Homeschooling & ClassDojo

Welcome!

While school is closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, many families will be caring for and educating their children at home.  This webpage will be updated with activities and suggestions for keeping that going.  At the bottom of this page is information about ClassDojo, the learning and communication tool we have adopted to keep contact between your child and class teacher going. 

Online Safety

Inevitably, children and families will be spending more time online during the lockdown.  In this section there are resources parents and carers can use to get a better understanding of the issues and material to support.

There is support available to keep your child safe online. Below are some useful links to help parents and carers:

• Thinkyouknow (advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online)
• Internet matters (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
• Parent info (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
• LGfL (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
• Net-aware (support for parents and carers from the NSPCC)
• Let’s Talk About It (support for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation)
• UK Safer Internet Centre (tips, advice, guides)

Getting Too Much?

While it is great having time with the children, being with them 24/7 can be a completely different story.  If you need help to keep on going, try these resources:

Routine - Establish a Daily Schedule and Stick to It!

Although is may be the easiest option, allowing your children unrestricted gaming and use of the internet is not the best move; in fact, it is an incredibly bad one as you will be fostering a mindset fixed wholly around lethargy and leisure. Parents/carers will find that they are treated more like domestic servants by their children, rather than mothers or fathers.  Moreover, by encouraging a sedentary lifestyle you are getting your child to adopt seriously life-debilitating attitudes for the future, with associated health-risks and limited life-choices. So, first of all, ensure that the game console, etc. are strictly rationed!

Next - establish a plan which works for you and your family.  Here's a suggestion:

7.30am Wakey, wakey!

8.00am Breakfast

8.30am Chores (set up a rota for your child to be involved with household maintenance)

9.00am PE with Joe Wicks (see below)

9.30am Individual reading

10.00am Maths (things set my school as well as Time Table Rockstars, Abacus and BBC Learning)

11.00am Break (maintaining social distancing, take a walk/run as a family)

11.30am English 

12.30am Lunch (sit down and eat together: avoid putting on the TV - listen to music and chat, share best moments of the day so far - and finish with the children taking their fair share in the tidying up)

1.30pm Arts and crafts (draw a picture, make something, be creative) or Topic Work [try alternating daily]

2.30pm Storytime: read aloud with each other (find a book to share - make this a special time when adults read to and entertain children)

3.00pm Assembly - this would be when school gets together, maintain the tradition.  If you are religious, pray together; if you are not religious, share more of the day's highlights and what you are looking forward to over the next few days.  Encourage your child to write down something, perhaps in a notebook which you intend to keep as a family, about this reflection.  Let them relax into the activity, taking pride in what they do. Each day you are together is precious - encourage them to see that.

3.30pm End the school day by encouraging your child to contact someone who would love to hear from them, whether an elderly relative, a neighbour in need or an absent friend - but keeping in mind the rules of isolation and social distancing.  A letter, note or phone call is all it needs.

3.45pm - bedtime Family time, including limited gaming/social internet use (keep bedtime at its usual time for a school day and not the same as adults - you need time away from the children too).

There will be resistance to this schedule from many: please do not crumble and give in. Patience and endurance will get you there and will help establish good routines for life in your child.

Arts, Culture & Virtual Visits

Life during lockdown prevents us being out and about, so visits to heritage and cultural sites are off the agenda.  While such trips are not possible in the real world, the virtual world is a different story.  Check out the following document and links to get out-and-about without leaving home:

As-Live Theatrical Performances

Available here is access to stream National Theatre at Home and the Royal Opera House. It is strongly recommended that parents/carers check the contents of plays to ensure they are suitable for a family audience, if they choose to watch the productions with their children.

Resources

The following links will take you to a range of useful resources and videos - please try them out:

ClassDojo during the Coronavirus Pandemic

ClassDojo is the system school will use to maintain contact with our pupils during the time school is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Children need to use a QR code to enter the system and parents/carers have been provided with their own logins to monitor communications between teachers and pupils.  

Parents/carers should understand that, during the crisis, while teachers will do what they can to maintain the system within our usual 3-day service standards, it will not be possible to do so at evenings or weekends and, if staff become sick, they will not log into ClassDojo at all.  Teachers are likely to look at the system only between 8.50am and 3.30pm.  Urgent messages should be sent via the School Office email (office@allsaintsmaidenhead.org) in the usual way. Thank you.