ONLINE TEACHING STAYS STRONG

City Campus is using Seesaw to deliver its comprehensive home learning curriculum for students at this time. All online learning is being expertly delivered by the school's class teachers and subject specialists. Ms Jenna Tait, Digital & E-Safety Lead at City Campus, answers some key questions about the use and benefits of Seesaw:

WHAT AGES CAN USE SEESAW? 
Seesaw is, of course, designed with the young learner in mind, and it is child-friendly. All City Campus students aged from 3-11 years are able to navigate Seesaw in varying capacities. It connects our Early Years children to their teachers through video and voice, and it offers more technical and creative options for older learners to take advantage of. It is parent-friendly too!

IS SEESAW EASY TO ACCESS?  
Seesaw works on any device - PC, laptop, tablets and smartphones. You can also make use of screen mirroring on your television. The interface is intuitive and user-friendly, and it fits well with the nature of City Campus’s varied and topic-based curriculum. 

Seesaw has a team of experienced education and digital experts behind it, meaning it is built and maintained to give students, teachers and parents a meaningful online learning experience. 

HOW DOES SEESAW CONNECT STUDENTS WITH THEIR TEACHERS?
Seesaw provides a wonderful way to maintain communication between students, teachers and parents. It enables face-to-face contact through videos, and voice contact in comments function. This opens up a strong dialogue between teachers and students. 

Seesaw runs in real-time, meaning that students and teachers can easily ask questions or give feedback during each day of learning. 

Parents are also given a window into their child’s progress. The Journal feature allows parents to review their children’s learning, and to listen to or read teachers’ comments on each piece of work. 

HOW DO CHILDREN AND TEACHERS BENEFIT FROM USING SEESAW? 

· Creativity - For each piece of work set, children have the chance to choose innovative ways to achieve their learning objectives. Students can use tools such as drawing, collage and video to present their learning. 

· Independence - The choice of media helps children to develop decision-making skills and a sense of ownership in their learning, as they choose how to present their work digitally. Students have the opportunity to share their work and develop a sense of pride as they reflect on their past and present work at the click of a button. 

· E-Safety - An interactive learning platform such as Seesaw lets children develop their digital literacy in a safe online environment, with teacher and parent supervision. Teachers are modelling positive online behaviour in the content and tone of their comments, which gives children a strong example to take with them into the digital world.

· Assessing Progress - Seesaw automatically compiles childrens’ online work into a personal Journal for each child. Every child's Journal is unique, illustrating their individual learning journeys. The Journal feature is a useful way for teachers to continue to assess children's progress and extend their learning where necessary. 

· Community - Alongside academic learning, the interactive nature of Seesaw allows students and classmates to keep their sense of community and wellbeing, perhaps through sharing mindfulness techniques, discussing book recommendations or celebrating birthdays. 

IS SEESAW SAFE?
All City Campus students and teachers are given a password-protected account on Seesaw. Students are reminded during their e-safety lessons that they must not share their passwords. Seesaw’s full Privacy Policy is published on the platform’s website.  

HOW RESPONSIVE IS SEESAW TO THE NEEDS AND THE SAFETY OF ITS USERS?
It has been our experience that Seesaw updates its systems regularly, by listening to and pre-empting the needs of its users. We advise students and parents to update your Seesaw Class app regularly to make the most of any new features (if your device does not support automatic updates).

Whilst our teachers and students greatly miss being in the classroom, Seesaw has enabled the school to make the best of these unique times, by ensuring that the school's teaching and learning remains at the highest quality. 

READ MORE...

Ms Tait has shared the school's top tips for staying safe online.  

FULL STORY HERE