Our Virtual School

The Academy’s Virtual Learning Environment  is the ‘KCA Hub’

The Academy has a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) known as the ‘KCA Hub’. The Hub is at the heart of our teaching and e-learning programme.

This online system allows teachers, parents and children to share learning with each other via the web – bridging home and school together, and making learning available beyond the school walls. We use the system known as ‘Frog’.

Access to a ‘virtual’ school either as a duplicate or extension of the classroom has a clear advantage for learners and teachers alike. The Academy aims to integrate the KCA Hub into every lesson so that the hub becomes second nature to learners outside of the classroom.

Here are some features of the KCA Hub:

  • Aids communication – opens up a number of channels in the form of forums, discussion threads, polls, surveys and feedback, either as a group or individually
  • Supports home-learning –students can hand in work via the secure, virtual ‘hand-in’ folders.
  • Resources–the hub provides online storage space for presentations, documents, etc. that can either be secure or shared with students
  • Dynamic home pages – teachers have the opportunity to create an exciting virtual space for their class and the learning taking place there
  • Links to outside sources – pathways to other safe online learning spaces.
  • Embedded content – YouTube, BBC, newspapers can all be embedded in the dynamic feed on the homepage
  • Podcasts & videos – both teacher- and student-produced podcasts and videos have a shared platform; again, either secure or shared
  • Parental engagement – gives parents the opportunity to discuss class learning with their child at home.
  • E-safety – provides pupils with a safe and secure online environment where they can communicate with each other, and become familiar with communicating on the web before accessing the wider internet
  • Celebrate learning – allows the Academy to share photos and videos of children during a variety of learning activities in a safe and secure environment.

Every family is provided with a user name and password to access the KCA Hub when they join the Academy.