+ What timetable will your (Prep-age) children have in Main School?

The school will continue to run as a normal day, from 8.30am to 4.30pm, with six teaching sessions and a lunch break from 12.30pm - 1.30pm. During many sessions, classes will be split into smaller groups to allow teachers to differentiate and give your child more one-to-one attention. You will receive an individual timetable detailing which groups your child is in. This will be emailed to your child's school Gmail account. Some lessons will be live Zoom lessons; others will be used for independent tasks set and marked by the teachers.

+ What timetable will your Pre-Prep children have?

We've structured the lessons to suit the ages of the children in the Pre-Prep. Consequently the timetables differ in the amount of online teaching offered. Much of the core subject learning will be focused on in the morning and then the children will be given tasks to complete independently in the afternoon.

PP3 and PP4 children will have more structured online lessons and times for when they will be being delivered by the teacher on Zoom. Some of these lessons will be pre-recorded and some will be live. All lessons will have a recorded version available for children who are unable to attend or to have access to a computer during the set lesson time.

Your children have been given resource packs containing many things they may need over the next few weeks. They are welcome, if they wish, to use the resources away from lesson time. Please may the packs be kept together to be safely returned at the end of the school closure. The packs also contain books, paper and worksheets. Your children will be told what to use and when either via the online lesson, an email (PP2 parents) or via Google classroom (PP3 and PP4 parents).

If the lesson is to be delivered by Zoom, the class teacher will send you all a secure link to the teacher’s waiting room. For PP2 this will be via email, for PP3 and PP4 the link will be on Google classroom. You may be asked to sign in to Zoom. If this happens click on the link that allows you to sign in with Google. Use your school login (PP3 and PP4), for PP2 parents use your own email address.

When the class has arrived, the teacher will let the children enter the Zoom room and then will lock the session so that a secure learning environment can be created. The video link learning may not take up the entire length of the lesson as there may be time allocated to completing work that the teacher does not need to be present for. However there'll be opportunities for feedback and discussion throughout the week and questions can be asked in the next live session or via email. The recording of the session will be available via email if requested (PP2) or will be posted on Google classroom (PP3 and PP4)

Many of the afternoon sessions are for independent work and will not be requiring zoom, these sessions do not have to be completed at the allocated time and are optional for the younger children in the Pre-Prep. For PP3 and PP4 children, these lessons may include videos from other teachers with work to be completed afterwards. This will be available in Google Classroom. For PP3 children, every day at 2pm, there will be a Zoom meeting to have a feedback session to discuss work and reconnect as a class.

If the work is unable to be completed, please do not put undue pressure on yourselves to get it done. The intention of the teachers is to provide lessons and work for our young Pre-Prep children to enjoy and learn from – not to cause unnecessary stress and upset. The children will be learning new things through their play, their construction, their art and their conversations with their family and that may be enough, we are simply providing a source for more learning that the children can complete.

+ What video conferencing tool will be used?

We will be using Zoom. You can download this or it can be accessed via the browser. Black sessions on the timetable are timetabled as Zoom teaching. To access the Zoom meeting, you'll need to log into your Google Classroom for that subject and then follow the secure link to the teachers' waiting room. You may be asked to sign in to Zoom.

If this happens click on the link that allows you to sign in with Google and only use your school login.

The teacher will allow you access to the lesson. When all the pupils have arrived in the lesson, the teacher will lock the session and teaching will begin. This will create a secure learning environment. All lessons will be recorded and you can email your teacher should you wish to access them later for additional help.

If you have any questions then either ask them during the Zoom live teaching session or email them directly after the class has ended as you will not be able to make comments in Google Classroom. Due to teaching timetables, teachers may not email you back straight away, but will get back to you as soon as they can. If for any reason you cannot get it, or come out of the room, repeat the same steps. If there is still a problem, don’t worry, but email your teacher or IT Head Mrs Kelly to let them know.

+ Where and when do your children work?

The aim for the majority of pupils is that they are able to log in to Google Classroom/Zoom at the required times. If they're unable to make a lesson, they can watch a recording of the lesson in Google Classroom in their own time and then complete all work set. If you wish to do this, then please email your teacher and they will send you a link to the copy of the lesson you missed. The lesson must take place in a common living space, like a living room, or dining room. The lesson cannot take place in a bedroom.

All pupils should be wearing smart clothes as they would if they were in school. They will be given a copy of all necessary passwords to allow them complete all work as guided.

+ How is my child expected to behave?

The simple answer is: as you would be expected to behave in school. All pupils must follow school codes of conduct with regards to their behaviour. Work is expected to be completed by the deadlines set, contributions to class should be respectful and considerate of others and your full effort is required during lessons. Any behaviour that breaks this will result in a warning, followed by the pupil missing a teaching session and an email to parents.

Online work will still be expected to be completed even without the teaching input. Any questions that pupils have following the session should be emailed to the teacher directly. Comments in Google Classroom will be disabled.

+ What else can I do while I’m at home?

Enjoy nature - allow yourself to take time to enjoy it in all its splendour.

Read a good book - many of you loaded up with great books from the school library. Why not combine that with enjoying the great outdoors?

Create some art - just for fun or because the muse has taken you.

Help out someone else. At this time, there are many people worse off than ourselves. Be grateful for all that we have and think about how we can help others.

+ How can parents support their children?

One of the most important things parents can do to support distance learning is to communicate clearly and openly with their children and the school. Please explain to your children that distance learning is school and important and should be taken seriously. A strong signal parents should make to reinforce this message is to establish boundaries and routines for 'school time'. The school schedule is there to help students and parents have structure and routine. The number of classes/subjects a day on which students will work is designed to allow for flexibility and transition time for students and teachers.

+ Will your children learn as much through distance learning as they would through classroom learning?

We feel it's important that the School is transparent in its answer to this question. Students may not learn everything they would have compared to if they were in classes with their teachers. They will, however, keep learning material, covering content, and developing skills in each of their subjects and achieve the major learning goals set out in our curriculum for this term.

Whenever possible, the same material will be covered, studied, and learned to the best of everyone's ability. Teachers will make adjustments to the content they will cover as deemed necessary and appropriate for this modified schedule.

On the positive side, during their distance learning experience, students will learn things they would not necessarily learn if they were attending school. They will grow their ability to self-regulate. Within the new schedule, students will have more flexibility than they typically would in a traditional school day. They will improve their ability to initiate conversations - via email and Google classroom, etc. with their teachers when they have questions. Students will learn more about their own successes and challenges with independence. Our students will also learn more about themselves by working on their assignments in their quiet, home study spaces.

As adults, we can acknowledge these unprecedented opportunities for growth. Distance learning is new for all of us. Its success for our students will be determined by the degree to which all of the adults are on the same page, communicate well, and support each other and the children.

+ What if I'm struggling with the technology?

That may well happen at the start! If you have tech challenges accessing our online platforms - Google Classroom, Zoom and Gmail, please let us know. Addressing these issues will require time and patience on everyone's part.

For platform challenges, families should reach out to their classroom teachers first to see if they can work together to problem-solve the issue. If you need more help, please email Mrs Kelly at rkelly@somptingabbotts.org.uk or Mr Douch at headmaster@somptingabbotts.org.uk.