We use two online platforms at Ashdon: ClassDojo and Microsoft Teams. Between them, they keep you in touch with your child’s classroom day to day, and make sure learning can carry on if the school ever has to close.

Both are free to families. Both work on a phone, a tablet or a computer. You do not need to buy anything, and you do not need to be confident with technology — this page walks you through it, and the school office is always happy to help you get set up.

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ClassDojo is our everyday link between the classroom and home. Your child’s class teacher uses it to:

• share photographs and updates from the classroom

• post reminders about the week ahead

• celebrate your child’s achievements and share examples of their work

• send you a private message, and receive one from you

• share activities, instructions and daily learning if the school has to close

What to use ClassDojo for — and what not to

ClassDojo is for the ordinary, day-to-day conversation between you and your child’s teacher. Please do not use it to report an absence, to tell us about a medical need or medicine, to change collection arrangements, or to raise anything urgent or confidential. Those need to reach the office the same day, so please telephone 01799 584219 or email admin@ashdon.essex.sch.uk.

Teachers read and reply to ClassDojo messages during the working day. They are teaching for most of it, so please allow up to two working days for a reply. Messages are not monitored in the evenings, at weekends or during the school holidays.

If you have a concern about a child’s safety or wellbeing, please telephone the school and ask to speak to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Reynecke-Raybould. Never raise a safeguarding concern by message.

Getting set up on ClassDojo

1. Your child’s class teacher will give you a parent code, a QR code or an invitation link at the start of the year. If you have lost yours, or your child has joined us part way through the year, contact the school office and we will send you a new one.

2. Download the free ClassDojo app from the App Store or Google Play, or go to classdojo.com in a web browser.

3. Choose “Parent”, and create an account using your email address.

4. Enter your code, or follow the invitation link. Your child’s teacher will approve the request, and you will then see your child’s class.

5. Turn on notifications so you do not miss a message or an update.

Each parent, carer or family member can have their own separate account connected to the same child, so both households can be kept in the loop. Private messages between you and the teacher stay private to your own account.

If English is not your first language, ClassDojo will translate messages and class posts for you — there is a link below explaining how to switch it on.

Help with ClassDojo

These guides are written by ClassDojo and open in a new window:

• Getting started for families — the full set of guides in one place

• Create a parent account — step by step, on a computer, iPhone or Android

• How do I connect to my child’s class? — using a code, a link or a QR code

• My parent code isn’t working — what to try before you ring us

• Translate messages and class posts — reading updates in your own language

These pages are written in American English and use American terms (“student”, “family member”). They are accurate and clear, but if you would rather families saw an Ashdon voice, a two-minute screen recording of you doing it on your own phone will be watched far more often than a help page. I can write you a script for that.

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Every child at Ashdon has their own school Microsoft account. This gives them a school email address and free access to Microsoft Teams, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneDrive — at school and at home, on almost any device, at no cost to you.

We use Teams for:

• setting, sharing and collecting work if the school is closed for more than a single day

• live sessions with the class teacher during a closure

• older children accessing class resources and returning their work

Work saves automatically as it is done, so nothing is lost if a device runs out of battery or a connection drops.

Getting set up on Teams

1. Your child’s username and password are issued by school. Please keep them somewhere safe at home — taped inside a reading record works well. If they are lost or forgotten, contact the office and we will reset them.

2. Go to microsoft365.com in a web browser, or download the free Microsoft Teams app on a tablet or phone.

3. Sign in with your child’s school email address and password, not a personal Microsoft account.

4. Your child will see their class team. Work set by the teacher appears under Assignments, with instructions and a due date.

5. Live sessions appear in the calendar in Teams, and we will always tell you on ClassDojo when one is happening.

It works differently in each class

Teams is most useful for our older children. In [Jupiter], children can log in, open their work and submit it themselves. In [Saturn], most children will manage with a little help to get started. In [Mars], we do not expect children to use Teams independently — reading and typing are still being learned. Work for our youngest children will be shared through ClassDojo instead, and can be done on paper and photographed.

If you have children in more than one class, expect the arrangements to look quite different for each of them. That is deliberate.

Confirm the class names and the order of age ranges before publishing. I have assumed Mars is the youngest class and Jupiter the oldest — if that is the wrong way round, this paragraph will alarm the wrong parents.

Help with Microsoft Teams

These guides are written by Microsoft and open in a new window:

• Guidance for parents and guardians — an overview of learning at home with Microsoft 365

• Remote learning for students — signing in, finding assignments and handing work in

• Microsoft education help centre — searchable help for every Microsoft 365 app

How remote learning will work

If the school has to close for more than one day, this is what you can expect. Knowing it in advance means nobody has to work it out at half past seven on a snowy morning.

• By [8.30am] each day, your child’s teacher will post the day’s learning on ClassDojo — what to do, roughly how long it should take, and anything you need to hand.

• There will be a live session at [time] for each class, so the children see their teacher and their friends. Attendance is encouraged but not compulsory, and no child is ever expected to be on camera.

• Work is returned either through Teams, or by photographing it and sending it to the teacher on ClassDojo — whichever is easier for your child’s age.

• The class teacher will be available on ClassDojo between [times] if your child gets stuck or you have a question.

• Teachers will respond to the work children send in, so your child knows it has been seen and knows what to do next.

We will keep it realistic. We know that many of you are working, that one device may be shared between several children, and that a full school day cannot simply be moved onto a screen. Do what you can, in the time you have, and tell us if it is not working — we would far rather adjust than have a family struggling in silence.

Every square bracket above is a decision, not a detail. Times, whether live sessions are daily, and teacher availability hours all need agreeing with staff before this goes live — parents will hold you to whatever is published here.

If you do not have enough devices at home

We know that not every family has enough devices for all their children to work at the same time. If your child cannot get online, please contact the school office. Where we are able to, we will lend a school laptop for the period of the closure, arranged directly with you. Devices are limited, so we prioritise according to need, and a short loan agreement is signed before a laptop leaves the school. Please just ask — no family will ever be asked to explain their circumstances in front of anyone else.

Live sessions: what we ask

Live sessions are lessons, and the same expectations apply as they would in the classroom. To keep every child and every member of staff safe, we ask that:

• children join from a shared family space rather than a bedroom, wherever possible

• an adult is at home and aware that the session is taking place

• children are dressed — school uniform is not needed, but pyjamas are not appropriate

• no one records, photographs or screenshots a session, including parents

• children use their camera and microphone as the teacher directs, and mute when asked

• anything said or shared in a session is treated as private to the class

Sessions are always run by a member of school staff, and a child will never be in a one-to-one live session with a single adult.

Keeping your child safe online

Your child’s Microsoft account is a school account. It is managed by us, filtered and monitored, and it is covered by the pupil acceptable use agreement your child signs each year. ClassDojo accounts are set up and managed by school, and only staff can post to a class.

You can read more about how we teach and support online safety on our Keeping Children Safe Page.

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How we look after your data

We hold only what is needed to run these platforms: your child’s name and class, and a contact email address for you. How we use and protect personal information is set out in our [privacy notice]. ClassDojo publishes its own privacy information at classdojo.com/privacycenter.

Two things to sort before this paragraph goes live. ClassDojo processes personal data outside the UK, so you need a completed DPIA on file and ClassDojo named in your pupil privacy notice. Publishing this page while that is outstanding puts the gap in writing on your own website. Microsoft 365 Education is more straightforward but should also be named in the notice.

Other online learning at home

If Mathletics, Times Tables Rock Stars and Numbots are still running, they belong here rather than only being mentioned at Meet the Teacher — one page holding every login is exactly what parents want. Suggested wording below; delete the section if the subscriptions have lapsed.

Children also have logins for a small number of learning programmes they can use at home:

• Times Tables Rock Stars and Numbots — short, daily practice in number facts and times tables.

• Mathletics — maths activities matched to what your child is learning in class.

Logins are sent home at the start of the year. If your child has mislaid theirs, ask the class teacher on ClassDojo and we will send a replacement.

Need help getting started?

Please do ask. Nobody minds, and it takes us five minutes. Telephone the school office on 01799 584219, email admin@ashdon.essex.sch.uk, or catch us at the door in the morning and we will sit down with you and your phone and set it up together.