Home Learning Support & Advice
Helping schools get through the Coronavirus outbreak
The threat of Coronavirus has already caused some schools to take action. Such decisions are never easy but with preparatory work and the right edtech solution, it is possible to maintain a basic level of teaching and learning practice outside school.
School Stories
OAK HOUSE SCHOOL
“Frog has really come into its own with home learning. My teachers are being incredibly creative and coming up with fantastic ideas using Frog.”
Nicki Taylor, Head of Primary. Oak House School. Barcelona.
“Most importantly, students and parents know exactly where to go to get their instruction and interact with their teachers. I imagine over the next few weeks this will become even more creative.”
“It’s been a learning curve for some [using Frog] as they weren’t using it consistently, but they’re working really well in their teams.”
NORTH LAKES PRIMARY SCHOOL
In preparation I am ensuring that our online services are uptodate and groups are all set up. I have been checking that all children can logon to Frog and any other systems we use to ensure a smooth transition if and when we need to switch to home working.
I think that a challenge for us will be connectivity and concern about what parents will do if they can’t get access or their devices are too old etc. The work we are doing should mean we are generally on top of this though.
I am working on a factsheet that tells people how to access things, but I think a big message is not bombard families at this time.
Martyn Soulsby. Leadership Team & DPO. North Lakes School.
North Lakes School has provided free access to their award-winning Penrith Hub. It contains Coronavirus-related information and schools are welcome to share it using the following link:
PENISTONE GRAMMAR
The school has prepared an IT closure plan. This is some of the learning the school has shared with us:
- They investigated MS Teams for video conferencing a few months ago. In testing they discovered people had too many technical challenges, so it wasn’t a whole-school solution.
- Identified that their regular auto password reset on their school network (for security purposes) would cause problems for users in a long closure period. So, they have temporarily suspended this feature. This is something schools should be aware of.
- The Principal has directed that for years 10-13, every hour of teaching will require an assignment set PLUS a homework. To differentiate between lesson assignments and homework assignments, the assignment titles are prepend codes. Lesson assignments have closing dates of 24 hours, whereas homework closes after one week.
- To be consistent across all subjects they have prepared guidance on assignments. Each assignment needs to have:
- An instruction
- Activities and Tasks
- Assessments
- For the instructions, the school has found the recording feature in PowerPoint to be the easiest method. It outputs a small MP4 video, which is then attached to the assignment. (TOP TIP).
- Finally, a school closure portal is being created in Frog which will contain all of the guidance and notes etc. and will go live when the school closes.
Emergency School Closure information
Mike O’Brien at Penistone Grammar has kindly agreed to share their Emergency School Closure information...
PRIORS FIELD SCHOOL
Initial thinking:
- What is the school policy? Work to be available for all classes or just exam classes?
- Are students expected to submit work while the school is closed? How?
- What is the school stance on students who can’t/don’t complete work set?
- Are teachers expected to interact with pupils during a closure? Answer email etc.
Once we have an agreed approach on the above:
1. Making it easy for students to find set work
Frog was the most obvious ‘landing page’ to be able to communicate instruction and link to set work. Microsoft Word Online was the most familiar and fool proof way for staff to set work, one document for each year group with a list of subjects.
2. Place for resources to support set work
Frog department sites, Frog assignments, SMHW, 365/Google Docs, textbooks etc. NOT to be added to Word docs.
3. Handing in method
We have left this to teacher discretion, most teachers are expected to set work but are not expected to collect, mark and feedback work during closure – although welcome to do this if they wish.
Information supplied by Paul Garner, Head of Department ICT. Priors Field School.
EDUCATION & LEADERSHIP TRUST
Advice:
- Keep it simple! Don’t start inventing complicated systems that staff and students aren’t used to.
- The Frog Network Files Widget is your friend! Most staff and students can deal with uploading and downloading.
- Model it in the classroom, make sure staff can clearly demonstrate how to access things as if they are at home.
- Ask departments to do things in the same way – this ensures a child isn’t experiencing different process for all of their teachers.
Communication
- We use in touch (SIMS) but we will also email and put information on our website.
- Key messages will go through student notice boards and make the instructions visible via the Frog Files Widget.
Frog
- We have ‘School Closure’ pages setup on each subject portal as part of our business continuity planning.
- Staff have been refreshing the content of the pages and/or refreshing the content of the ‘Contingency’ folders on the network.
- We will continue to post notices on the student noticeboard to keep them updated.
Other
We are looking at disconnecting some iPads and laptops from the network to send home with children that need them.
Supplied by Kate Wragg,
