Almost a quarter of a million pupils have logged on to Oak National Academy as the number of pupils learning from home doubled in the first weeks of full school reopenings.
Schools Week can reveal the online classroom, which was set up in response to Covid-19, saw unique users jump from 121,000 to 249,000 between September 7 and 21.
Furthermore, as of Wednesday this week, there were 152,000 unique users – with four days still left to go.
Principal Matt Hood said pupils have taken part in 1.8 million lessons since the full return to school as the rise in Covid cases means more pupils are being sent home.
“Thousands are running two schools: one in the school building and one for children at home. This is an even bigger ask than full lockdown and we must do all we can to support them.”
Hood said a further 2,800 schools have used the government-backed service’s new teacher hub to download and edit resources.
He added: “As cases have risen since the start of term, we’ve seen the numbers in our classroom double. We’re prepared for that trend to continue.”
The scheme allows pupils to visit online classroom to access free pre-recorded lessons.
The academy was given £4.34 million in government funding to create 10,000 lessons and run throughout this year, on top of £500,000 start-up cash.
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