Remote Learning
Continuing Education at Home
During the period of school closure from 4 January – 8 March 2021, Banstead Prep School children continued their education at home. The children had a weekly timetable, similar to their usual schedule (available to download below). Lessons were a combination of live teaching and pre-recorded lessons, using Microsoft Teams, and teachers were available real-time online to help with the tasks set and provide feedback.
To stay connected to our school community, parents followed us on Twitter @BansteadPrep, @BPS_Headteacher, @BPS_Wellbeing and @_BPS_Sport, on Instagram/bansteadprep , on Facebook.com/BansteadPrep and YouTube.com/bansteadprep
We are providing a combination of live lessons via Microsoft Teams and setting work via SeeSaw including pre-recorded PowerPoint presentations with voice over instructions, video and interactive apps. Feedback from teachers includes voice recordings and annotated work. Wherever possible instructions and feedback are provided via voice-over or video so the children can hear and see their teachers.
Children can access and complete (dependent on age/child) most of the work with minimal parental oversight and resources include clear, step by step expectations of what the children need to do, and advance warning if additional equipment or materials are needed to complete the task.
The children will be able to get the best out of these live sessions if they are able to use an IT device that has a camera and a microphone and have installed the Teams app.
All of the children have access to a Microsoft account, which will enable them to be part of a collaborative ‘Team’. This means that they can access all lessons via their Teams app.
If children miss the session for any reason, they will be able to find the session in their Teams app afterwards and play a recording to access the learning at another time.
SeeSaw is an app that enables us to provide a wide variety of activities and tasks for the children. Teachers can introduce the learning topic and explain how to complete independent learning activities using voice recordings and video. Children and parents can return their completed work, share photos and drawings and receive personalised verbal feedback from their teacher who can also annotate their work.
All your child’s home learning instructions and activities will be provided via SeeSaw. An introduction to SeeSaw for parents including instructions for downloading the family app can be found below.
Your child's timetable shows when their teacher is available to help with their work, either via email or a live clinic using Teams. You can also email their teacher directly with any questions. Your child's teachers will respond to their completed work via SeeSaw.
As usual, please contact your child's class teacher in the first instance if you have any concerns about either their learning or wellbeing.
To support the additional online support and structure, your child's timetable will change. Your child's new timetable is now available to download via the link below. It will also be posted on SeeSaw by their teacher.
Instructions on how to hand in work will be included with each activity. Wherever possible children will submit their work via SeeSaw and their teacher will also provide feedback via the app. If it should be emailed to your child's form teacher, or their specialist subject teacher, the correct email address will be included. You can photograph work that's been completed on paper and share these via SeeSaw. Older children can use Microsoft Office packages to create documents or files.
We would also love to see photos of your child completing their work or carrying out activities - please also let us know if we can use these for our social media channels, to inspire others at home.
We fully understand that the balance of work, home life and remote learning can be challenging. Yours, and your child’s, best efforts are good enough and we will not expect every activity to be completed by every child every day or week.
Whilst some parents prefer to receive work each day, others found it useful to be able to plan. You as a family can choose to strictly follow the timetable if the routine is helpful for you, or to flex the timing or the days on which the children complete their work if you prefer. We will continue to review the timetable and listen to your feedback.
Remember that children are also learning by doing other things at home, such as baking, gardening, drawing, sewing... These activities are equally valuable, and we encourage you to continue with those that are helping your child thrive.
If your child can’t see video or screen-sharing please try the following fixes:
Check the device has a good Wi-Fi and internet connection
Try leaving the meeting and then re-join it
Check the user is logged into Teams with their user name (not as Guest)
The fault sometimes occurs if the Chat or Participants icon has been opened, try restarting Teams without opening any Chat or other icon.
Restart the device and only open the Teams app
Make sure you are using the latest version of Microsoft Teams
Check that there is enough free space on the device
Check the device Operating System is up-to-date
If a few users can’t see the video, the teacher should try leaving the meeting and then re-join it.
If the fault still persists please email helpteams@bansteadprep.com with the following details:
Device model, Operating System version, Teams version, error messages or behaviour, photos or screenshots.
Access to online resources
Doodlemaths (used by Year 1 – Year 6) www.doodlemaths.com
Hegarty Maths (Year 5 and 6) – hegartymaths.com
Spelling Shed – www.spellingshed.com
French Linguascope – www.linguascope.com
Other useful online resources
Touch Typing – www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zf2f9j6/articles/z3c6tfr
BBC Bitesize – www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary
Code Camp – www.codecampworld.com
Read, Write, Inc YouTube Channel
Help Guides
The Microsoft Teams app can be installed on Apple, Windows and Android devices by visiting the appropriate App Store, Play Store or Microsoft Store. For the best experience please install the Teams app using the link below, alternatively Teams can also run in a modern internet browser such as Edge, Chrome, Safari, Firefox.
Microsoft Teams tutorial – how to join a Teams meeting
SeeSaw Tutorial – How to Log in to SeeSaw