Distance Education Parent Guide
Welcome to Sorrento Primary School’s Distance Education guide. This page has been designed for viewing on mobile devices via the SchoolZine app – find download links in the Required Apps tab. Additions to this page can be found in the Page Updates tab.
Last updated: 8 April 2020
Education is open.
Welcome to the Sorrento Primary School Distance Education Parent Guide. We have created the following guidelines to assist all families at Sorrento Primary School to continue the education of the children within our community.
In these extraordinary times, we are committed to keeping ‘education open’ and although our school doors may be closed, it is imperative that our children still experience a sense of connection to their school, their teachers and most importantly their friends.
Our students’ health and wellbeing during this period is of utmost importance to us and although we would love for our families to attempt the suggested academic activities provided, we will endeavour to include activities that incorporate fun and engaging lessons that take our students away from their devices and at the same time, keep them connected. Although moving to a distance education model has changed what education has looked like in the past, it is imperative that our children still experience a sense of connection to our school, their teachers and their friends.
First and foremost, we value every one of our community member’s health and wellbeing – both mental and physical. We understand that you are parents, and not teachers. We understand that every home has a different context, with different situations and different stressors.
We offer these educational activities in the knowledge that you will be assisting your child when possible, not teaching, and we offer these on the understanding that you may not always complete (or sometimes start!) what has been provided.
Our underlying message when reviewing the activities we send is: You are the parent. This is your call. Be kind to yourself.
Last updated: 8 April 2020
The following guidelines outline the expectations for staff, parents, students and administration for delivering or accessing education at home.
Student Expectations
Be ready to learn each day.
Take breaks and drink water throughout the day.
Go outside and take part in play or physical activity.
Check-in online and let your teacher know which zone you are in on the days you work.
Connect with your teacher via Seesaw.
Ask lots of questions.
Read the Weekly Overview and a Daily Planner from your class teacher. You are encouraged to attempt the activities each day.
Share your learning via the Seesaw app with your class teacher for feedback. Communicate often.
Choose an appropriate place to video conference, and if possible blur the background. Prioritise the sessions that involve *WebEx Share*
Act according to our core values in all online platforms (WebEx, Connect or Seesaw). Online learning platforms are an extension of school.
Family Expectations
Help your child set up a workspace and establish a routine.
Take breaks and drink water throughout the day. Prioritise the health and wellbeing of your family.
Read the Weekly Overview and Daily Planner with your child and help with clarification.
Assist children with learning activities.
Log into the daily WebEx sessions with you child when possible.
Expect communication from teachers during normal school hours.
Identify and prioritise the sessions that involve WebEx sharing.
Encourage and take part in outdoor play and physical activity.
Provide ongoing feedback to teachers and administration to assist with fine-tuning Sorrento’s Distance Education model.
Please remember there is no pressure to complete all the work provided. You are the parent. This is your call. Be kind to yourself.
School Expectations
Teachers
Be ready to teach each day.
Provide daily communication to students via Seesaw and WebEx.
Assign daily and weekly tasks using school templates from the core WA Curriculum areas, as well as other key learning areas. WALT and WILF will be provided for each lesson.
Offer acknowledgement on student work with a ‘like’ and/or a comment.
Class teachers upload the Weekly Overview into Seesaw each Friday, and Daily Plans uploaded each afternoon.
Specialist teachers upload their learning plans into their Seesaw folder each week.
Teachers are available during normal school hours.
Video content may be live or pre-recorded.
Education Assistants
Assist teachers in planning and preparing distance education.
Provide support to students as negotiated with classroom teachers and administration.
Education assistants are available during normal school hours.
Communicate with identified students and families.
Video conferences may be live or pre-recorded.
Administration
Coordinate the whole-school response to the current situation.
Provide the most current communication to the Sorrento PS community.
Ensure capacity of school to support online programs.
Monitor and support the wellbeing of staff, students and the parent community.
Ensure staff are supported to build their capacity to deliver distance education.
Assist parent community in building their capacity to access technology options.
Administration will be available during normal school hours.
Provide WebEx support if and when required.
All staff
Take breaks and drink water throughout the day.
Go outside and take part in play or physical activity.
Communicate with each other using video link where possible to maintain our positive collegiality and sense of connectiveness.
Last updated: 8 April 2020
Communication is an essential part of our distance education model. We understand the importance of ensuring that our school community has the most current information available to us, and that through clear communication we can support families with education at home.
Administration to Parents: School administration will relay information they receive from the Department of Education or whole-school messages via Connect and/or Email.
Teachers to Parents: Teachers will communicate their key classroom-level messages via Connect and/or Seesaw. Weekly Overviews will be sent via Connect and/or Seesaw on Fridays ready for the following week.
Teachers to Students: Teachers will communicate daily learning activities and wellbeing messages via Seesaw and WebEx.
Last updated: 9 April 2020
We would love to know when our students are engaging with learning, and how they are feeling about their day.
We ask that students check-in using the online form on the days they are engaging in learning activities.
These check-ins, along with our Webex live meetings and Seesaw classes, will be used to help teachers track engagement rates. We are NOT using this data for formal attendance data, and the school will NOT be reporting on attendance rates during this period.
You can also download this poster to place on your fridge – scan the QR code with an iPad or mobile phone, and complete the check-in easily each day!
Last updated: 9 April 2020
Daily WebEx Lessons
Meeting IDs and passwords are sent by classroom teachers via Connect and/or Seesaw. Contact your child’s teacher via email if you need the meeting link.
| Start Time: | Classes: |
|---|---|
| 8:40am |
Kindy: Blue Bears Kindy: Red Bears Kindy: Gold Bears |
| 9:00am |
Year 1: Room 13 Year 1: Room 14 Year 6: Room 10 |
| 9:30am |
PrePrimary: PP1 PrePrimary: PP2 |
| 10:00am |
Year 1/2: Room 1 Year 2: Room 2 Year 2: Room 3 |
| 10:30am |
Year 3: Room 4 Year 3: Room 5 |
| 11:00am |
Year 5: Room 7 Year 5: Room 8 Year 5/6: Room 9 |
| 11:30am |
Year 3/4: Room 11 Year 4: Room 12 |
Last updated: 8 April 2020
We have developed whole-school templates to assist both teachers and parents in delivering activities.
Providing a template that is consistent across all year levels ensures that parents who have more than one child at the school will not have to navigate different styles of planning.
While the level of detail within each document will vary depending on the age of your child, the structure will be consistent, so you can be confident of locating similar information in each document.
By providing a two-tiered approach – a weekly overview and a daily planner, we hope to cater for the different contexts that are present with the homes, and the different amount of time that parents are able to allocate to learning programs. Again, our aim is to provide something that works for you.
Weekly Overview
The Weekly Overview will be delivered via Connect and/or your child’s Seesaw account on the Friday of the preceding week. This is designed to give you and your child a snapshot of the learning that is planned for the following week.
Sometimes, within a busy week, you may find that you have time to refer only to the Weekly Overview to give your child a school-like experience for some sessions, e.g.
- “Time to do some spelling – do the Soundwaves activity from page 22 to 23. How many words will you find with the ‘o’ sound, I wonder?”)
Daily Plan
The Daily Plan provides more detailed information for each of the boxes outlined in the Weekly Overview, and will be delivered via Connect and/or your child’s Seesaw account each Friday. For some year levels, the daily planner is supplemented with video instructions. You may find for many sessions, you have time to sit with your child and complete a more detailed session, e.g.
- Search for words in books with an ‘o’ sound, write them on a piece of paper, read them together and sort them.
- Complete the Soundwaves activity from page 22 to 23.
- Answer the question together at the end – how many words did we find with the ‘o’sound?
WebEx Meetings
Our teachers are committed to providing live sessions with their classes each day. Each class has a set time each day they will conduct the meetings. Find your class’s allocated time in the Timetables tab.
We have elected to use the Department of Education’s preferred video conferencing tool – WebEx. Students will need to have this installed on either a mobile device, tablet or computer to attend a live session. You can find download links for this in the Required Apps tab.
Our WebEx meetings:
- will run daily, in the allocated time
- will have 15 minutes dedicated to explicit teaching
- will have daily expectations clearly stated
- will provide time at the end of the session to stay “live” to support those students that may require assistance.
Trialling Video Linkups with Home from Sorrento Primary School on Vimeo.
WALT and WILF
WALT: We Are Learning To…
Lessons will include a statement which lets you and your child know what the point of the lesson is, such as:
- We are learning to count to ten.
- We are learning to multiply two digit numbers.
- We are learning to use adjectives in our writing.
Sharing a moment with your child to let them know why they are working on a particular task can help them to stay focussed and involved.
WILF: What I Am Looking For…
Each lesson also contains a key question that can be asked at the start, and at the end of each activity, such as:
- Can you count to one to ten?
- What is 25 times 14?
- What are three adjectives that might describe your room?
These are important “check-in” questions – they allow your child to reflect on the success of their learning session. Letting them know the question at the start of the session shows them “what you are looking for”, and asking the question at the end lets you both either celebrate the success, or identify whether to have another look at the problem.
Last updated: 8 April 2020
Connect Now
Apple iOS | Google Play | Web Browser
The school’s messages are delivered via this app – parents can choose to receive push notifications and/or emails via the settings found here. Log in is via your Parent Number (e.g. P123456) – contact the front office if you need assistance getting reconnected.
Seesaw Class
Apple iOS | Google Play | Web Browser
Our Years 2 to 6 classes have been set up on the Seesaw Classes platform to deliver lesson content for our distance education model. Teachers will have sent a Connect notice to connect students to their accounts, and parents can request family access as well.
Seesaw Family
Apple iOS | Google Play | Web Browser
Our Kindy, PrePrimary and Year 1 classes have been set up on the Seesaw Family platform to deliver lesson content for our distance education model. Teachers will have sent a Connect notice to connect families to their child’s account.
Webex Meetings
Apple iOS | Google Play | Web Browser
Teachers use Webex as our platform to video conference with your children, and there may be times when teachers and administration can run parent-driven meetings as well. Teachers will send either a link or Meeting ID and password to families via Seesaw and/or Connect. Teachers will meet with their class at least once each school day.
SZ App
Apple iOS | Google Play | Web Browser
For the past two years, we have been delivering our newsletters via SchoolZine. The SZ App allows parents to read newsletters from their mobile devices. For the duration of our Distance Education model, we have also remodelled the SZ app as a help-guide, and a place to put frequently asked questions for our school community.
Last updated: 9 April 2020
These resources may be useful if you are looking for additional work to complete with your child. If you have found something that is working for your family and it is not on this list, you are welcome to submit a request for it to be added!
General Resources
- Learning at home – resources and information to support learning and wellbeing in the home.
- Khan Academy – free online interactive lessons in Mathematics, coding and other learning areas.
Physical Education
- P.E. with Joe – a YouTube channel for kids to get active, run by a physical education teacher in isolation!
Last updated: 9 April 2020
Request Tech Help
You can also join our Sorrento Primary Tech Help Facebook community to see if you can get help there, or alternatively email Trevor Hinchliffe directly at trevor.hinchliffe (at) education.wa.edu.au
HELP & FAQs: Seesaw
- Families Seesaw – Help Centre: https://help.seesaw.me/hc/en-us/categories/115000881123-Families
- Seesaw for Parents: https://web.seesaw.me/parents
HELP & FAQs: WebEx
- WebEx FAQ for Parents: https://www.webex.com/content/dam/webex/eopi/assets/education/parentimage1.pdf#
- WebEx Quick Start Guide for Parents: https://www.webex.com/content/dam/webex/eopi/assets/education/EducationK12ParentWebexMeetingsQSG.pdf#
FAQ: Connect
Q: I am getting a message when I try to login saying my account is locked. How can I unlock it?
Your account may become locked if you attempt to log in too many times with an incorrect password. If your account is locked you will need to contact the front office so we can unlock it.
Q: How can my spouse/partner/relative also have access to Connect?
Multiple family members can have parental/carer access to Connect if they are listed at the school with ‘Parental Responsibility’. You should contact the school directly to organise another login. The school may need to request additional information, if they don’t already have it, including address and phone number.
Q: Why can I only respond to some notices in Connect?
Teachers and administrators are able to select whether to enable comments from students and/or parents whenever they publish a notice in Connect. Not all notices will have comments enabled.
As this page is updated, we will add a note here. Check back here regularly to quickly see if there is any new content or updated information.
- 9th April 2020
- Added FAQs for Seesaw, WebEx and Connect under the Tech Help tab (renamed to Tech Request and FAQs)
- Added resources to Additional Resources tab (renamed to Additional Resources and Links)
- 8th April 2020
- Distance Education Parent Guide webpage soft launch
