Bitesize training to mitigate lockdown
A Series of short after school sessions looking at tools to help you cope in a lockdown. All free of charge.
Facebook group
Join the Herefordshire Home Learning Staffroom Facebook group to share good practice and to ask for ideas and supports. It’s a closed group to teachers in Herefordshire.
Newsletters
Try Zoom for face-to-face teaching (with spin-offs!)
There is a good reason why Zoom has become a household name during the lockdown and a few schools are using it as part of the home education pack of tools. One such teacher is Sara Herriott at Brampton Abbotts and she explains in a highly entertaining and inspiring article how she did it.
Zoom is a great platform; it’s so beautifully simple and requires virtually no setup. You can invite people to a conference just by sharing a web address (which of course could be in Seesaw etc). Zoom is free to a basic level, the most limiting restriction is that some sessions are limited to 40 minutes – that restriction has been removed for now, for schools. Others to consider are certainly Microsoft Teams and Google Meets, but both require more setup and preparation. I just like things that work well and are simple!
Latest DfE guidance on home learning
Home learning policy template
I was asked by several coordinators and head teachers, at the start of the lockdown for one of these. Google failed to provide one so I wrote one. It’s designed as a discussion / CPD resource as much as a policy and if you get a chance to discuss it as a staff team that will bring rewards.
Herefordshire Computing Support 