Online Learning Guidance for Parents S EN I O R SC HO O L APRIL 2020
CONTENTS
ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
PAGE
➤ Introduction
2
➤ Communication
3
➤ Learning
4
➤ Expected online behaviour
5
➤ Homework
5
➤ Registration and reporting absences 5 ➤ Pastoral care and support
6&7
➤ Wellbeing and Enrichment
8
➤ E-safety and safeguarding
9
➤ Staying Active
9
➤ The school day timetable
10
➤ Technology
11
➤ ImpactEd Survey
12
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ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
INTRODUCTION
Dear Parents and Guardians, Thank you for your support in these hugely challenging times for us all. Your messages of gratitude, acknowledgment and appreciation to staff are extremely welcome fillips to us all.
➤ Make sure your child has a good routine in place for completing work. It might help to have specific times for using technology, going outside, reading, and completing school work. Children are used to the routine of the school day so it’s helpful to have this at home to.
This booklet aims to contain all the information you need to help navigate this period of online learning with your child and to outline the provision from the School. It includes details of the academic provision, guidelines for maintaining a sensible balance and routine to their daily lives during the period of closure and some useful links for pupils’ wellbeing. You might also like to look at www.parentinfo.org as a helpful starting point.
➤ Ensure your child has a suitable and comfortable space where they can work, free from distractions. ➤ Ensure they have breaks, eat and drink healthily, read books, take exercise and enjoy some fresh air. As a School, we will focus our attention on ensuring the following:
In terms of what you can do to help your children in the coming weeks with their studies, you don’t need to be an expert in any subject to support your child at home but encouragement and awareness of what they are studying is invaluable. There are some small practical ways in which you can involve yourselves and support them without having to watch over them all day long:
1) Ashford School remains tightly connected as a community at all times. 2) The standards for education continue for all pupils at Ashford School. 3) Understanding that parents may continue to work, including teaching and administrative staff, and will be required to manage the logistics of supervising children either while at home or elsewhere.
➤ Take an interest in what your child is working on. Be curious, ask them to teach you about something, ask questions, such as: • Can you explain that to me? • Can you give me some evidence for that? • What do you mean when you say…?
The community at Ashford School will do our utmost to support these challenges and will ensure we are flexible, patient and tolerant during these times. These are new times for everyone.
➤ Offer praise and encouragement. Acknowledging the hard work your child puts in is really important and can keep them going. Children really value this from their parents – even if they don’t tell you that!
Mr Tom Wilding Head (Senior School) 2
ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
COMMUNICATION
How the School will communicate with you:
How you can communicate with the School:
➤ Relevant iSAMs mailings will be emailed as and when required. We will be sending weekly updates through this channel to keep you updated as the situation progresses.
➤ Please contact your child’s Form Tutor in the first instance for any learning or pastoral concerns. The form tutor will be able to answer any queries or redirect your email if appropriate
➤ All personal, academic and pastoral matters will be communicated to you directly by your child’s Form Tutor or the relative member of staff.
➤ You can show us what your children are up to and how they are engaging in the lessons by sharing photos and videos on social media, using the hashtag
#AshfordSchOnline
➤ Fortnightly digital newsletters.
➤ For area-specific questions, please see the key contacts throughout this booklet.
➤ Social media. You can follow our posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram where we have introduced the hashtag #AshfordSchOnline.
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ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
LEARNING While the School is closed and online learning is live, pupils must work from home or where there is good internet access and in a safe location known and approved by their parent or guardian. Pupils are expected to be dressed and presented appropriately in any live online sessions.
Pupils must engage with each lesson and the tasks set, as well as the homework (which will be submitted, marked and fed back electronically).
Teachers will plan lessons and activities that relate as closely as possible to the current class content or skills. The activities will reinforce existing understanding or introduce new content as planned in the regular scheme of work. Regular school hours will be reduced, and we expect that the older a pupil is, the more independently they should be able to carry out the tasks assigned by teachers, including access to materials online.
➤ Academic Enrichment Pupils should access subject pages on Firefly for a range of academic enrichment activities and wider learning suggestions. ➤ Academic Scholars Academic Scholars will continue to be supported this term by Mr Tom Vafidis, our Lead Teacher for Academic Scholars, High Potential Learners and Challenge
Lessons and activities will be posted for timetabled lessons daily, from Monday to Friday. Lessons online will be shorter than traditional lessons in the classroom. The Prep School will continue to teach using Seesaw and Showbie, whilst the Senior School will teach predominately via Teams, OneNote and Firefly.
vafidist@ashfordschool.co.uk
➤ Learning Support Learning Support lessons are running throughout the Trinity Term. Learning Support Assistants are providing both in lesson support and 1:1 sessions. For more information on Learning Support provision, please contact Mrs Sharon Thompson.
Some of the lessons will be live (i.e. the teacher will talk to their pupils live as though in a physical classroom, or using a video link); however, for those that aren’t, the teacher will be “present” for every lesson as per your child’s usual timetable and available to be contacted (live chat, email, etc). There will be resources and/or pre-recorded lessons available to the pupils and the teachers will be contacting the children to check their understanding.
thompsons@ashfordschool.co.uk ➤ GENERAL ACADEMIC QUERIES Ms Jennie Denton Director of Years 7-8
dentonj@ashfordschool.co.uk
Mrs Carly Smythe Director of Years 9-11
If pupils receive music, and/or speech and drama tuition, online lessons will be arranged directly with them.
smytheC@ashfordschool.co.uk
Mrs Claire Miller Director of Sixth Form
All pupils’ communication with teachers should be via their school (@ashpupil.co.uk) email address or Microsoft Teams – teachers will not provide personal mobile numbers or email addresses to pupils or parents.
millerc@ashfordschool.co.uk
Ms Joanne Russell Deputy Head (Academic)
russellj@ashfordschool.co.uk 4
ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
EXPECTED ONLINE BEHAVIOUR
REGISTRATION AND REPORTING ABSENCES
Pupils are expected to behave online as they would in the classroom: politely and sensibly. It is vital that all pupils listen carefully to instructions from teachers and to wait for an explanation about the task in hand. It is also important to listen with respect and patience when other pupils express their ideas in lessons, and to use appropriate language at all times.
As from WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL, your child’s tutor will be registering the pupils at 08:30 every morning. We are checking pupils’ attendance and also their engagement in the online learning provision. We will of course take into account the time differences for pupils in other countries. It is, however, imperative that international pupils are in attendance, registered and engaging fully with the online provision to ensure that visas remain valid.
When pupils join Teams, they need to ensure that their video and audio is turned off and only activated when the teacher requests them to do so (relative to Senior School pupils only).
If your child will be/is absent for any reason, parents must email their child’s tutor and their Head of House so that we are aware of the absence. Heads of House are shown on page 7.
HOMEWORK The homework timetables for KS3 and KS4 remain in place. Homework will be set either on Firefly or on Teams and, where possible, will involve activities that are not dependent on the use of a screen. Each teacher will indicate whether the work is to be self-assessed or submitted electronically for marking.
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ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
PASTORAL CARE AND SUPPORT
Who can pupils talk to? We are all still here for them! How will the school communicate? With students via Teams, Firefly, OneNote Form Tutor catch up every morning
General Wellbeing
Catch up phone calls / emails to parents
Form Tutor Head of house Head of Section Pastoral Deputy Head
Pastoral Support at the Senior School during school closure How else to share concerns?
Safeguarding Nicola Timms Designated Safeguarding Lead
Microsoft Form - Bullying Report (on all Surface Go’s)
Zoe Jefferson Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Childline School Counsellor morganb@ashfordschool.co.uk
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ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
➤ FORM TUTOR Pupils’ main school contacts – to be contacted via school email or Microsoft TEAMS ➤ HEAD OF HOUSE Franklins Mr Curry Knights Mr Stew Merchants Ms Bates Pilgrims Mr Vafidis Squires Miss Loughlin Yeomen Mrs Walsh
curryj@ashfordschool.co.uk stewa@ashfordschool.co.uk batesc@ashfordschool.co.uk vafidist@ashfordschool.co.uk loughlinh@ashfordschool.co.uk walshd@ashfordschool.co.uk
➤ HEAD OF SECTION Years 7+8 Ms Denton Year 9-11 Mrs Smythe Years 12+13 Mrs Miller
dentonj@ashfordschool.co.uk smythec@ashfordschool.co.uk millerc@ashfordschool.co.uk
➤ DEPUTY HEAD PASTORAL Mrs Timms timmsn@ashfordschool.co.uk ➤ HEALTH CENTRE healthcentre@ashfordschool.co.uk ➤ SCHOOL COUNSELLOR Barbara Morgan morganb@ashfordschool.co.uk ➤ MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AIDERS Nurse Zoe jeffersonz@ashfordschool.co.uk Ms Denton dentonj@ashfordschool.co.uk Mr Stew stewa@ashfordschool.co.uk Mr Curry curryj@ashfordschool.co.uk
PASTORAL CARE
PASTORAL CARE AND SUPPORT
➤ EXTERNAL SUPPORT AND ADVICE
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ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
WELLBEING AND ENRICHMENT
It is more important than ever for pupils to maintain a well-balanced lifestyle even during the period of school closure. Please encourage your children to keep to a regular routine (by following the school timetable), eat healthily and take exercise - in the fresh air if possible, provided it is safe to do so and remembering the social distancing requirements.
It is important to remember to look after their mental health and wellbeing now more than ever. Here are some useful links: ➤ www.healthyyoungmindsinherts.org.uk
Pupils will not be able to meet up with their friends and will no doubt miss their company; please encourage your children to keep in contact virtually. Please also encourage your children to be creative and imaginative with their spare time: read books, take exercise, play music, cook, write a blog, be helpful around the house...
➤ https://parents.au.reachout.com ➤ www.youngminds.org.uk ➤ www.kidshealth.org
There are a number of online interesting and cultural experiences available and we will email ideas to pupils weekly. Some examples may include the BBC’s “Culture in Quarantine” festival, live streams from the National Theatre and various museums which have launched virtual tours, including the Tate Modern, the Guggenheim and the Musée d’Orsay. In addition to the array of fitness challenges the sports department has posted, there will be a series of house and co-curricular challenges and events over the course of the term, as well as house assemblies.
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ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
E-SAFETY AND SAFEGUARDING
We are doing all we can to ensure your child stays safe online, but we ask that you support us in this by being aware of what they are doing whilst online. We understand that you cannot be expected to sit with them throughout the day due to your own work commitments, but we advise that you, when possible, take time to discuss their online learning and activities.
We have added a number of fun and challenging activities to Firefly to keep pupils engaged in physical activity. This can be found by clicking on the following – Resources, Teaching and Learning and then PE and Games. On the various tabs on the left of the page pupils will find links to HIIT, Yoga, Just Dance and Core Body sessions which include a variety of resources and video workouts for each key area.
If you have any concerns regarding your child’s safeguarding, please do not hesitate to contact the School’s Designated Safeguarding Leads as below:
There are also a number of sport specific drills under the tabs which focus on developing general skills and knowledge and understanding of the laws/positions associated with that sport. In addition, pupils will also find a range of 30-day fitness challenges to attempt such as the 30-day plank, squat jump, press up challenge etc.
Nicola Timms, Deputy Head Pastoral and Designated Safeguarding Lead (Senior): timmsn@ashfordschool.co.uk
Pupils in Years 7-10 are expected to log into Teams during their allocated PE lessons as sports staff have planned sessions for them to complete as a group. For pupils in all other years, they can check on Firefly for an activity of their choice to be completed during their timetabled Games Lessons.
STAYING ACTIVE
Please keep checking the school sports social media accounts (@ashfordschsport) on Twitter and
Staying active is more important than ever right now as the official advice is to stay at home and to only go outside for one form of exercise a day. Now that we as a School have moved to online learning, it is important that pupils keep themselves physically active each day in order to maintain good physical health and mental wellbeing. The Sports Department have compiled some of the most useful tips on how to stay active when at home.
Instagram for daily updates and challenges. For further fun ideas please see the following links below from Sport England and the Youth Sports Trust: ➤ www.sportengland.org ➤ www.youthsporttrust.org 9
ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
SENIOR SCHOOL TIMETABLE
TIME
SCHEDULE
0800 – 0830
Staff available via email
0830 – 0840
Check emails + log into Teams – Form Tutors available & check attendance
0845 – 0925
LESSON 1
0935 – 1015
LESSON 2
1025 – 1040
BREAK
1040 – 1120
LESSON 3
1130 – 1210
LESSON 4
1215 – 1325
LUNCH
1325 – 1405
LESSON 5
1415 – 1455
LESSON 6
1505 – 1545
LESSON 7 or self-directed exercise (keep yourselves fit!)
Please encourage your children to use the gaps between lessons to tie up loose ends from the previous lesson, to have a short break from looking at a screen, and to move around, stretch their legs, neck, shoulders etc. 10
ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
TECHNOLOGY
Our technology underpins the online teaching and learning environment and is robust, secure and sustainable for the future. Our teachers have been trained in using these platforms over the past few years along with our pupils, who possess the digital literacy skills to use it confidently and in a competent manner.
For our live lessons to work smoothly, we ask all pupils to keep their microphone mute when they first join the lesson and to turn it on when asked to answer a question. If a pupil turns on their microphone to talk, they must remember to turn it off afterwards. This is similar with the use of video in their lesson.
All pupils have access to Firefly, Teams and the Office 365 suite of applications. Through these systems, teachers will deliver their lessons and offer feedback on completed work and assignments. Additional technology such as Kahoot, Padlet, Quizlet, Memorise and Whiteboard can be used for review of material in lesson.
Pupils can use the chat features to ask questions or make relevant comments, but we also ask our pupils to use it sensibly. If pupils have a question, they should type it in within the chat box and wait for a reply. If teachers are not able to respond promptly, it may be that a teacher is responding to another child.
All pupils will have access to their classes via Teams. Live, or synchronous, lessons will be scheduled through Teams Meeting or Meet Now invites. Pupils will be able to view these invites on their Calendar within Teams. All posts within the Team will be recorded and are stored in the back end of our systems. It is expected that online behaviour and language must mirror the expectations of a classroom.
Pupils from Years 7-11 each have a Surface Go device and will have access to a range of Microsoft Office products, which are locally installed on their devices. Alternatively, they can also login with their school username and password on their home device. This is accessible at www.office.com If you wish to get in touch regarding the use of technology and e-learning practices at Ashford, please contact Dr Parmar on parmarn@ashfordschool.co.uk
Through use of online flipped learning pedagogical practices, pupils will have access to their pre-recorded or asynchronous lessons. Our teachers will ensure that they are available during lesson time and provide live feedback for their pupils via a personalised approach of annotated, audio or video feedback.
➤ Should your child have difficulties accessing the online learning platforms, then please do contact our IT support department by emailing ictash@ashfordschool.co.uk
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ONLINE LEARNING GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
IMPACTED SURVEY
“High-quality evaluation is crucial to making a difference for outcomes for pupils”. Sir Jon Coles, CEO, United Learning
We are working in partnership with ImpactEd, a non-profit organisation that exists to help evaluate, understand and improve impact in education. We will be monitoring pupils’ engagement, wellbeing and motivation so that we understand what is and isn’t working. For further information, please see their website www.impacted.org.uk
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