Live Streaming FAQs for Home Learning

We are aiming to offer all students in every year group teacher led sessions throughout the lockdown period, starting from Thursday 7th January 2021.
This is only possible where we have sufficient staff to conduct lessons and there may be times when colleagues are absent due to illness, in which case we would provide students with work to complete through ShowMy Homework (now called SatchelOne).

As long as there are sufficient staff to teach the lessons, we will aim to operate a full timetable, following our existing timetable, this means that, in most cases students will be able to engage with their normal class teacher every lesson.

The only exceptions to this will be Period 5 on Thursday 7th January and if a teacher is unwell or would otherwise have been absent from school.

All of our Teams lessons will follow the existing school timetable.
Students will need to check with their existing timetables which lessons they have each day and when.
The timings for lessons will be the same as a normal school day last term. This means the lessons will take place at the following times:

Wherever possible students should be ready to take part in the lessons at the times shown, unless they have been told otherwise by their class teacher.

We do understand that for some households, where access to computers maybe limited, it will not always be possible for students to attend the lesson live – please see questions 4 & 5.

The class teacher will allocate time in each lesson where they can talk to either the whole class or some students.  However, not all lessons will be “taught” lessons.  In some lessons, teachers will be there to help students with their independent work and to give feedback on the work they have been doing.

No.  In a normal lesson, a teacher would not normally talk to the students for a whole hour as time needs to be given to activities to help develop understanding further and consolidate knowledge.  We will take the same approach with these sessions.

Teacher led learning will last between 30-40 mins
Students should use the remainder of the session (20-30 mins) to work on supplementary work which can be found on SatchelOne.

For lessons where teachers are providing support, teachers will be available for the first part of a lesson and will end the lesson if there are no students in the team, asking for help.

Teachers are planning these sessions to reduce the impact of school closure as much as possible.  Everyone is committed to  helping students continue with their learning throughout these difficult times.  The best way to do this if for students to attend the live sessions and complete the follow up work, following the pattern for a normal school day.

However, we do understand that there may be occasions where this is not possible, for example due to limited access to computers, Internet or other household specific circumstances.  Subsequent questions address how to access work if your child is unable to attend a specific session.

A register will be taken at the start of each Teams session so we can monitor the uptake of the sessions  by students.   Heads of Year may contact parents if we are not receiving work or seeing students at these sessions so we can make sure we are supporting students as best we can.

Wherever possible, students should make every effort to attend their lessons at the time shown on the timetable.

Students will not be sent a link to join their lesson, they should go straight to their class team at the normal lesson time.

If, for any reason students can not attend the session, resources from the lesson will be made available on SatchelOne.  Students should use these resources and complete the tasks, submitting their work to SatchelOne.

If students have any difficulties with the work or they are not sure what work they need to do, they should contact their class teacher.

We have worked hard to try and give as many students access as we can.  For those students where this has not been possible, we will send work home in the form of a workpack for students to complete.

Instructions for each day will be posted on SatchelOne as most families can access this using a mobile phone.  If possible, a photograph of completed work should also be submitted in this way.  If none of this is possible, students will be asked to bring their work into school when they return when they return to school.

Students do not need an invite or link to be able to access their lessons.  All students have already been allocated classes on Teams which are the same as their in school classes. 

Students should log onto Teams in time for the start of their timetabled lessons, select the correct class and then they will be able to join the lesson.

Most lessons have a “lobby” feature, students will need to wait in the virtual lobby until their teacher allows them to join.

All students have access to Office 365 through the school website.  One of the packages included is Microsoft Teams.  This means that it can be accessed through any web browser.  Although the downloaded app is better, it is not essential.

Alternatively, students can access Teams through a mobile phone.  We have also been told that Teams can be accessed through Playstation and Xbox consoles, although we have not tested this route ourselves.

A detailed guide to obtaining and using Teams is also available in this document here.

To make the most of the sessions, students will need:

• Access to Microsoft Teams either through a computer or a mobile phone

• Their exercise book for that subject, or paper to write on.

• A pen and a pencil.

• For some subjects a calculator.

A microphone will allow students to talk to the teacher in an Teams session, but students can still listen and observe the lesson if they do not have one.

Students do not need a camera for the sessions, these are blocked from use by students.

Using cameras often reduces the quality of the call, especially when many people are involved.  In addition, blocking the use of cameras, reduces the risk of incidents occurring that may not be suitable during an online lesson.

The actual content and approach to each session is decided by the class teacher and there will be a wide variety of lessons as there would be in school.  However in general students should expect to:

• Listen to the teacher as they explain things.
• Make notes as the teacher talks.
• Attempt any questions set during the session in their book.
• Offer answers, either through the chat function or speaking through their microphone.
• Complete the follow up work on SatchelOne.

In a meeting, moving the mouse will reveal the menu bar.  To raise or lower a hand press the hand icon

To help students consolidate their knowledge and understanding from the lesson and to practise key skills, they will be asked to spend up to half the lesson time on additional, follow up work.

All work will be available to students and parents through our SatchelOne platform, you are probably more familiar with this being called Show My Homework.

Students should complete the tasks for each subject on the same day as the lesson wherever possible.

Wherever possible students should complete work in their normal exercise book.  If this is not possible, they should complete work on paper and stick this into their books when they return to school.

Where work set is an online quiz or mymaths or similar, this work is usually recorded for the teacher to review, but teachers will advise if they want other information.

We do appreciate that the current situation is very difficult for many students and parents.  By running lessons through Teams we are hoping to give students sufficient structure and engagement with a teacher to reduce the impact of the closure.  
In addition, teachers will be available in some of the lessons to provide help and support to any student who needs it.  However, there be any difficulties at all, please make contact with us as quickly as possible.

If a student is struggling with the work or is struggling to keep up with the work, please contact the subject teacher directly either by email or through the SatchelOne platform.  If this does not solve the problem, please contact the head of subject –email details are on the school website here.

If you are concerned about a child’s engagement with the work, their mental health or well-being during the closure, please contact the form tutor or HoY or your normal contact in the school.

Yes please.

The work posted will have a due date for submission, this will normally be the same day as the lesson.

Students should upload their work to Show My Homework for the teacher to review.

In the first instance, the class teacher will send a reminder note using the SatchelOne platform.  Students will get this as a notification.  The message will give them the opportunity to submit work or reply.  This is a good opportunity to ask for help if needed.

If this first reminder does not get a response, class teachers, Heads of Year or Form Tutors might make contact with you to see if there are any issues that we are unaware of.  We fully understand that home learning is not easy, many teachers will be trying to  manage their own children doing work as well as supporting yours.  Communicating these issues quickly is the best way to deal with them.

When students fully return to school, they may be asked to talk to their HOY or form tutor about any missing work as it is important that students do not fall behind as a result of this short closure.

We do not ask teachers to mark every piece of work that students do, nor will we ask them to give formal feedback on every piece of work a student submits during this short closure.

Teachers will, in general use SatchelOne to acknowledge receipt of the work, this will often be of the form of a smiley face mark where they have seen good work or a sad or neutral face if the work is not of the quality they normally expect.

For some pieces of work, teachers may give more detailed feedback though SatchelOne or in one of the online lessons, but in all cases, teachers will review the work to help them plan future lessons, either remotely or in school.

Yes, parents have always been able to see work set through this platform.  All parents have a log in that they can use.  If you have not registered before, please contact the school office and we can provide you with details.

Unfortunately we can not spend time during a session trying to help fix problems, especially as many of us do not have the expertise.

If you can not hear the teacher, check all of your cables and settings , if this does not work, try logging out and back in again.

If this does not work, or you have other issues, you may try and contact supportdesk@waingels.wokingham.sch.uk.  Mr. Jarred, may be able to offer some more technical advice. 

If none of this works, the recording of the session will be made available through SatchelOne.

The school does not operate SatchelOne and, as with many organisations they are under considerable pressure during these times.  However, they are usually very good at responding to technical queries.

In the first instance, you and/or your child should read the help files in the support section of the SatchelOne system, if this does not work, you can either contact them directly for help or, please feel free to email me at johnjh@waingels.wokingham.sch.uk and I will send the issue to them.  In either case you will need to send the following information:

• The exact name of the piece of work you are unable to access/submit
• The date it was set
• The name of the teacher who set it
• The class code
• What you are using to access the work e.g. phone or web page
• What operating system e.g. android/iphone, explorer/edge/chrome etc.
• If possible a screen shot of the problem.

We are only able to run these sessions if we have staff available to do them.  If a member of the teaching staff is unwell, we do not have the capacity to cover their teams session as we would if it were in school.

In this situation, the class will be emailed telling them that the session will not take place and directing them to complete work set on SatchelOne.

The code of conduct shows clearly how students should behave and approach sessions and is available on the website.  Much of it is the same as if a student is in school.  It is designed to help ensure that students and staff have a safe, productive and enjoyable online session.

If a student does not follow the code of conduct they maybe asked to leave a session.  If they continue to disrupt the sessions, they may be blocked from any future sessions for any subject.

But obviously we are hoping this is never an issue!

If you behave as well as you know you should in class, there should be no problems.  In particular you should make sure that you are focused on the lessons and make sure that when you communicate verbally or by text, that you do so with kindness and consideration of all other participants.  You should take every precaution you can to avoid any disturbance to the session, but we do understand that sometimes this is avoidable.

No.  The sessions are designed for students and it would be inappropriate for parents to take part in the sessions.  You are, of course, welcome to listen in, but you should not try to communicate to other students or the teacher during the session, if you need to speak to the teacher, please follow the usual communication channels.

The following table shows the minimum number of online “taught” lessons your child should expect to receive during the lock down period.  Some teachers will choose to deliver more taught lessons if they have the capacity to do so.

Unless a member of staff is unavailable, all timetabled lessons will have a teacher leading the Teams session, sometimes this will only be for a short period of time to provide feedback, support and guidance to students.