Advice for parents and childr
FAMILIES NEEDN’T BE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR YOUNGSTERS’ EDUCATION AS TEA
WHEN it was announced on January 5 that schools across the country would only be staying open to children of critical workers and vulnerable children, the majority of parents gave a collective shudder. After all, having children is challenging enough at the best of times, but when they’re at home all day, every day, and you have to supervise their education, it’s almost impossible.
As father-of-two Errol Murray, from Leeds, says: “There’s a reason that teaching is a paid profession. The idea of taking care of children and getting an idea into their heads at the same time as working a full-time job is very difficult, and to achieve this with no training is basically a non-starter.”
No wonder many parents were worried about the impact of the closure on their child’s education and academic progress. However, since the March 2020 lockdown, schools have improved hugely the remote learning opportunities they provide for students. First time round – like everyone else – they were caught by surprise, and had to rapidly develop strategies to help educate children at home.
By this January, schools were better prepared. Janey Cooksley, headteacher of Briar Hill Primary School in Northampton, and her team had spent months creating a full academic year’s worth of booklets covering all the academic subjects for years one to six.
“By September 1, they were all preloaded onto Google Classroom. For those children who had online access, everything was ready and for those who didn’t, hard copies of the booklets could be posted out,” says Janey.
So when the majority of children had to learn from home in January 2021, all Janey’s pupils, and those in the 22 other primaries in her trust, could immediately benefit.
“As well as the booklets, we have teacher videos or voiceovers that help explain the lessons and tasks, and our teachers and teaching assistants have weekly calls with each family to check in and see how everyone is coping. It’s our moral duty.”
Each school is doing things slightly differently, with some providing between three and five hours of lessons a day for pupils. Most record the lessons which are later available to pupils, while teachers are on hand to answer any questions or help with any difficulties.
Shalina Patel, head of teaching and learning in large comprehensive school in northwest London, said, “In terms of planning lessons for remote learning, my key aims are always to try and replicate a ‘classroom’ experience as far as possible. Just as I would if the students were in my classroom, I always aim to make sure that there is an engaging task at the start of each remote lesson, such as a historical source for the students to analyse. Some recall questions from previous learning or even some music that the students then need to link to the lesson title.
“I’m learning more and more ways to engage students remotely, whether that’s using interactive whiteboards for students to share answers, live polls to instantly gauge the opinions within the class or utilising breakout rooms for small group discussions.
“Of course, remote learning isn’t the same as teaching in a classroom, but it is possible to replicate so many ‘classroom’ experiences online.”
And schools are now being supported by the EdTech demonstrator school and college network, which involves experts helping them get the best out of the technology available. But not every child has access to a computer or wi-fi – something schools and the Government are keenly aware of.
Schools can support their disadvantaged pupils through the Government’s £400 million scheme to provide access to technology.
Around half of Emma Marshall’s pupils are classed as disadvantaged. The head of Havelock Academy secondary school in Grimsby carried out an audit to assess what tech each student had, and provided a device to those in need. Teachers then produced “how-to” guides to help pupils use their tech and made sure a click-through to their remote-learning website was clearly available on the school home page for ease.
“We’ve also provided paper packs of work for those who would be really struggling to access everything online,” says Emma.
“Now children have live-streamed lessons to complement their set work. Other times, we’ve got our ‘cheer-up’ videos that the staff filmed to say, ‘We’re still here, we’re still missing you, we want you to see our faces and our smiles because we are here for you’.”
Increasingly, parents are recognising the huge efforts that schools have made to teach their children remotely.
Tony Thomas, who has two daughters, Amelia, 11 and Eleanor, seven, who attend St John Fisher Catholic Primary in London, said, “In the first lockdown, I set up separate work areas for each of them in different rooms, with their own computers. I think they have – perforce perhaps since my wife and I were both also working from home – become more self-directed and eager to complete their work.”
He added, “For this second lockdown, the school prepared late last year by giving us booklets to keep as backup. The booklets cover the whole syllabus and teachers can point to particular pages for exercises.
“Amelia is completely independent and even managed her schedule of studies for the 11+ exams alongside schoolwork. She could manage her work and take breaks throughout the day.
“Eleanor is eager every morning to have her worksheets printed so she can complete them before her half hour with the class every day. She also wears her uniform every day! It was something she herself decided at the beginning of this year.”
“I think the school has done a really great job of getting teachers to engage with the kids both online and by managing workloads.”