Five go virtual in rural Shropshire

A rural academy trust that created a shared “virtual sixth form” says the move has “transformed” its post-16 offer by allowing pupils to study subjects online they could not otherwise access.

“Open6” connects five sixth forms within The Marches Academy Trust in Shropshire.

Pupils can study subjects in person at their own school, then study another subject online by accessing lessons taught by a teacher in another school in the trust.

Sarah Finch, The Marches’ chief executive, says the trust had thought about how to make its sixth forms “not just viable, but meet our young people where they are, and make them able to go into the world at work or academia [with] the right skill set”.

She was expecting a handful of year 12 pupils to take part when the virtual courses launched in September last year, but to her surprise 23 enrolled.

That number has grown to 61 this year.

The schools span rural Shropshire, with up to an hour’s drive between each one.

The trust also struggles to recruit staff to deliver specialist subjects, partly because Shropshire does not have any universities that offer teacher training.

For the past six years, it has taken the “incredibly expensive” option to use minibuses to take sixth-form pupils studying PE and technology-based subjects to other schools.

A few years ago, Finch became involved in “open schools”, a movement set up by the educationist Mick Waters. It set up a working group so schools could meet and share ideas about how to better support their pupils.

The organisation also created an online platform to allow pupils to take part in a survey to explain how they feel about school.

Pupil feedback

Finch found her pupils did not like having to travel to another school to do a course that was not on offer at their own.

In 2024 she came up with the idea for a shared sixth form with online lessons and, with support from headteachers, the programme began in September a year later.

Pupils can choose from five “Open6” A-level subjects (economics, English language, government and politics, further maths and law), as well as their extended project qualification (EPQ) and level 3 qualifications in applied criminology and core maths.

Finch says they “chose a limited number of subjects first, the ones that are the most difficult to timetable or the ones that the children can’t access in their home school”.

Pupils can only do one subject virtually – their other choices must be taught in-person at their home school.

They can also study one of the “Open6” subjects in person if their own school teaches it, as well as studying another subject virtually.

Finch said the EPQ “can be just as effective” when delivered online to all the schools, rather than in-person.

Some enrichment opportunities, such as the Young Enterprise Programme, are also virtual.

The Open6 website has a virtual art gallery, which showcases A-level art and design work from pupils across the trust.

But other joint enrichment opportunities that require face-to-face interaction – such as sports clubs, model United Nations, and the Open6 choir – are held in person.

First year

In the first year of the scheme, teachers delivered lessons to in-person classes at their own school, then provided recordings and online resources to pupils at other schools.

Those pupils watched the recording in a breakout room in their own building, monitored by the heads of sixth form.

Teachers also ran interactive online seminars after each lesson for the pupils who accessed the lesson virtually.

Every half term the pupils attended the schools that had been teaching them online to meet staff face-to-face and to raise any feedback.

This year, the trust is trialling synching timetables in some schools, so online lessons can be delivered live for all pupils.

The lessons will also be virtual for everyone, even for pupils whose school offers that subject.

Finch says the trust will assess which delivery method works better. But she suspects that it “will be better and more equitable” if all pupils are accessing the lessons virtually.

While heads support the idea, some staff are worried about their voices or images being misused.

AI deepfakes have become a huge concern for schools. Teacher Tapp data shared with Schools Week found that 12 per cent of secondary teachers said that pupils had created AI-generated images of members of staff.

In response to the concerns, staff, pupils and parents had to sign contracts stating that they would not misuse any images or voices from the recordings.

Maria-Christina Peyman, head of intellectual property and partner in the dispute resolution team at law firm Birketts, says that while the contracts are not yet standard in education, they are “a sensible, and increasingly common risk-management response”.

“The value of such contracts are less in pursuing damages claims and more in creating clear behavioural rules, supporting disciplinary action, and strengthening the school’s legal position if misuse occurs.”

But it did not “overcome the actual practical challenges such as identifying the individual responsible; obtaining evidence of the wrongdoing and proving causation where AI tools are involved”.

Avatars

The Marches created avatars for staff, but Finch says most staff do not want to use them. There have been no incidents involving deepfakes so far.

The trust used its funding allocated for school improvement to invest in infrastructure, including improving wi-fi connectivity, adapting existing rooms to make them suitable to host the online lessons and providing equipment to help teachers deliver the online lessons effectively.

The scheme has also made the trust’s sixth forms “much more accessible to more disadvantaged children”, by supplying laptops and tablets to all the schools for pupils who do not have them.

Finch views the programme as “a future education model” for all stages of education.

“If a school is just not able to put a really skilled teacher with the subject knowledge in front of the [children], it could then access the skilled teacher virtually, and have the cover teachers facilitating the learning in the rooms.”

She insists the scheme is not about replacing staff, but about supporting them where there are gaps.

“It’s also another way of developing staff, because they can team-teach together without actually physically travelling to each other’s schools, so you can upskill and support new teachers into the profession.”

Primary schools can use it too

Primary schools, that often do not have specialist teachers, also “could actually use this model to enhance that curriculum offer”.

“So I see that this wealth of sharing that could really enrich that curriculum offer for all of our children.”

The first cohort of Open6 students will sit their A-levels next summer.

Pepe Di’Iasio, the general secretary of ASCL, says it “wholeheartedly supports the work of schools and trusts in identifying innovative solutions to the challenges they are facing and providing the very best opportunities for their students”.

James Kewin, the deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, says that in a sense, Open6 is attempting to replicate the sixth-form college model in a virtual setting.

“In the short term, these innovative approaches to delivery can help in rural areas, particularly where public transport is patchy.

“In the longer term, the devolution of 16 to 19 education could provide an opportunity to plan sixth-form provision in a more sustainable way.

“That would help to ensure that all students can access in-person teaching and support, including in rural areas.”

But Jen Persson, director of the campaign group Defend Digital Me, said: “Addressing rural recruitment and retention are not solved by swapping in-person teaching for a screen and pupils and teachers should ask by when provision will meet learners’ needs.

“Young children in particular, learn through relationships, talk, play and physical activity, and being in a secure social environment with a qualified teacher is essential to that.”

Personalised learning ‘opportunities’

The “open schools” concept was developed by Mick Waters and the late Tim Brighouse, stemming from their book About Our Schools.

Waters told Schools Week the concept was broadly about providing pupils with personalised learning opportunities and to re-engage those who feel that school is not working for them.

Forty secondary schools are involved in the Open Schools working group.

The organisation has also received funding from education charity the Comino Foundation as well as contributions from the participating schools, but it is looking for financial support from the government or other organisations.

Waters stresses that while some schools may develop a similar solution to the Open6 model, others may approach it differently, depending on the responses from pupils.

“The Open6 model is massively transferable as long as you transfer the principles rather than the practices. Procedurally, it would look different somewhere else.

“One of the problems we get in education is that we will tell people ‘this is how to do it’ as opposed to ‘this is why we doing it’, and what we’re trying to achieve.

“A lot of people thinking we’re talking about online learning – that’s a possibility but it’s not the driving force.

“The main driving force is to open doors for youngsters individually, and helping schools to work out how to do that.”