Discover how Finton House School are using Frog to create a virtual school environment for their staff, students and parents with a specific focus on ePortfolios.

Captured by Katie Cousins, the video below shows the school's ePortfolio system that allows for teacher feedback, student responses, demonstrates the breadth of work and also progression over time!

Watch video on Youtube.

Discover how North Lakes School are using Frog to engage and interact with students during the current Coronavirus lock-down!

Captured by Martyn Soulsby, this is the first video - in a two-part series - showing us how the school are helping their children to learn from home. 

If you’re a Frog school, it would be great to get similar videos from you to share with other schools.

Some are leading the way during these challenging times, but in truth, most are catching up. Let’s aim to get everyone on the front foot as quickly as we can.

As ever, if there’s anything you need from us at Frog to help you get the best during these times, you know where we are.

Capturing your clips
If you haven't done this before, one bit of software we've found useful is Flashback Recorder. You can send your clips to us in any way you choose - WeTransfer, GoogleDrive or simply upload to your Frog platform.

How the school have been using Frog to:

Interact with students

Watch a video created by Martyn Soulsby...

Watch video on Youtube.

Engage with students

Watch a video created by Martyn Soulsby...

Watch video on Youtube.

Keen to create structure for their pupils adapting to learning from home, Finton House School created personalised day plans to support the teaching and learning experience...

Personalised plans

Each day pupils login to a remote learning dashboard where they will find their plan for the day. The schedule includes links to registration, zoom lessons, tutor groups and Frog subject pages with pre-recorded videos and activities for the afternoon sessions.

Whole school content, for example assemblies, clubs & enrichment and Wellbeing sessions are embedded in timetables so they appear in each class's schedule.

Personalised links for 1:1 sessions, messages and resources from the teachers help pupils feel better connected. The day's plan also includes a shared folder with any resources requiring printing and a list of equipment the pupils need to have ready for the day.  

Connecting teachers with their class

To set up the personalised daily planners, teachers start with a standard template and edit to add their own content.

Pupil ePortfolios

The school is also rolling out ePortfolios for each year group as a way for pupils to manage and display their work. 

The clever Set Keyword Widget notifies teachers when there's something new to see and they have visibility of their whole class too. Feedback is given to the children in the comments, with children also able to respond to marking.

A pupil's ePortfolio is shared with their parents, so they can monitor their child's work and teacher feedback. For exemplary work, teachers have the ability to send an ePortfolio direct to the Headteacher for commendation at the touch of a button.

Discover how The Winston Churchill School are using Frog to teach multiple subjects during the current Coronavirus lock-down!

This is a series of nine videos that teachers have taken of themselves showing us how they are helping their children to learn from home. 

If you’re a Frog school, it would be great to get similar videos from you to share with other schools.

Some are leading the way during these challenging times, but in truth, most are catching up. Let’s aim to get everyone on the front foot as quickly as we can.

As ever, if there’s anything you need from us at Frog to help you get the best during these times, you know where we are.

Capturing your clips
If you haven't done this before, one bit of software we've found useful is Flashback Recorder. You can send your clips to us in any way you choose - WeTransfer, GoogleDrive or simply upload to your Frog platform.

How the different departments at the school have been using Frog:

Science

Watch a video showing how M North is using Frog to teach students Science.

Watch video on Youtube.

Music

Watch a video showing how C Drake is using Frog to teach students Music.

Watch video on Youtube.

Maths

Watch a video showing how J Ray is using Frog to teach students Maths.

Watch video on Youtube.

Physical Education

Watch a video showing how A Daniels is using Frog to teach students Physical Education.

Watch video on Youtube.

English

Watch a video showing how G Collins is using Frog to teach students English.

Watch video on Youtube.

Computer Science

Watch a video showing how D Falleiro is using Frog to teach students Computer Science.

Watch Computer Science video on Youtube.

Geography

Watch a video showing how S Harris is using Frog to teach students Geography.

Watch Geography video on Youtube.

Film Studies

Watch a video showing how N Parsons is using Frog to teach students Film Studies.

Watch Film Studies video on Youtube.

Design Technology

Watch a video showing how A Lighton is using Frog to teach students Design Technology.

Watch Design Technology video on Youtube.

It is strange how the summer term has started yet schools remain closed. However, at North Lakes School, like so many others, we are continuing to work hard to ensure that all of our children receive the learning they need at home.  

Teachers have been providing daily online learning resources via our “Frog” Virtual Learning Environment.  There are numerous activities to help keep everyone engaged and motivated, from setting daily assignments to uploading fun pictures to class timelines.  Activities are developing and embedding skills taught throughout the year and encouraging children to be inquisitive.  Both children and staff are busy monitoring progress and interacting with the children in their class.

Pupil feedback...

Noah, in Year 5, wrote:

“Home learning has been a massive change for my daily life. At first, I struggled with the change and missed school massively. Now that I am in the routine of logging into Frog every day, I can keep in touch with what everyone is doing, and it is not so bad really. I have just received a Bronze Froggies award for my Online Learning!

All my teachers must be working very, very hard to get all our assignments organised, and keeping in touch with us on our timelines – it’s great to be able to keep in touch with my classmates and friends throughout the school”

The children are enjoying logging on to “Frog” daily, earning team points for their school team and checking the daily Froggie awards and certificates. The staff at North Lakes understand that this change in conditions is a very difficult time for all children. Teachers are setting creative activities, fun photo challenges as well as exercise challenges on their timelines. They are encouraging the children to look after their sunflowers linked to the school campaign #NLSSTANDTOGETHER.

Lola, in Year 5, who is a member of Elterwater class, would agree that even though she is finding it difficult to learn from home, she is enjoying the use of the timeline throughout the different classrooms. She also believes that many children would agree that the assignments and online activities like Charanga YuMu are really helping them keep on track.

At North Lakes, we enjoy learning together, whether it is online or at school. We aim to achieve our best and continue to support our children the best we can.

North Lakes School has also produced a free Home Learning Links site for families which is available free to any reader.  It contains free, safe links to help promote home learning and also includes advice and tips for Online Safety for parents and children.

It is available from this link:

The Edron Academy, Mexico City

Frog has been used extensively across the school during the recent pandemic and school closure to keep our students making excellent progress. Frog has been an invaluable teaching and learning tools for students, teachers and parents.

In building this platform, three elements were vital for effective, extended learning:

• Focus on blended learning;
• Integration of extra-curricular activities;
• Emphasis on wellbeing.
  
  

Blended Solutions Work Best

Pedagogically, Frog is a self-contained virtual sphere and a link to other platforms, enabling a mix of live and recorded lessons, with links to interactive subject software. This keeps learning engaging and varied. Teachers can focus on individual needs by timetabling small group support sessions, using linked video communications software, such as Zoom or Google Meet. Parents can oversee their children’s work without the burdens that home schooling often brings. Online learning must be engaging and effective so as to counter parental perceptions that it is an inferior substitute to traditional schooling.

Keep it moving

Away from school, children become more physically inactive: longer screen time, irregular sleep, and less favourable diets. Without activities and the interaction with friends, the negative effects on health are greater. Isolation breeds frustration and boredom. Lack of contact with classmates and teachers has enduring effects on mood and attitude. And the normal separation of spheres, school and home, suddenly abandoned, invades a child's personal space and sense of freedom.

Frog has helped to construct social solutions of a virtual nature. Edron activity providers give home based exercise which all the family can do. Regular live lessons give Edron children a friendly face and some semblance of school. Duke of Edinburgh has moved online.

Well-being is the way

Whilst the academic and pastoral welfare of children has been the first focus of schools, the needs of parents, teachers and wider staff must not be overlooked. Mindful of the needs of all staff and parents, Frog is used to stage online activities, share useful articles and bring the community together, in parallel with zoned Whats App groups to check on staff wellbeing. All staff have access to professional counselling and full coverage of medical costs. In turn, teachers are stepping forward with sessions, such as Edron Master-Chef and Yoga for staff.

Written by,

Bedford High School had been using Frog for over 6 years, with mixed success in terms of getting the whole school community to engage with the Virtual Learning Environment. When the closures were announced, they realised the one infrastructure that would remain stable during the challenging times ahead was technology. With a focus on providing  home learning support for their students, Bedford High worked with Frog on a design update of their Parent and Student portals to make them more appealing and user-friendly. 

Preparation and training

The school took fast action ahead of enforced school closures, creating a clear and coherent contingency plan for how their home learning process would work. They placed Frog at the centre of this, with all assigned work to be put through their platform.

All students received refresher training to ensure they knew how to use Frog and guidance was provided for the new virtual home learning process.

The process included the use of FrogSnap as a feedback tool for teachers, enabling them to provide whole-class feedback rather than every student individually.

To ensure parents were well-informed and engaged in the process, Frog Messaging was used to keep them updated.

The impact

"The analytics were showing we had captured the school community's attention as we were seeing a six-fold increase in users."

"We have found that our users have become more accustomed and accomplished with their use of Frog and we are dealing with significantly less technical issues."

Gabriel Calwell Assistant Headteacher

The school is also using Frog to help subject leaders (SL's) to build their refined curricula. A Bedford High School Curriculum site has been devised to ensure SL's upload key resources to support their subject curriculum. This ensures all subject resources are in one place.

Summary of approach

• Agreed process and roll-out
• Guidance and support provided
• Central place for all subject resources
• Use of communication tool - Frog Messaging - to keep parents informed
• Curriculum site on Frog for subject leaders to upload key resources

After schools had closed and home learning activities commenced, North Lakes were looking at a way to encourage engagement in addition to the existing school reward system.

The solution needed to be inspiring and visible to all children on their Frog timelines. An idea was surfaced to create an 'Oscars' themed awards which would become known as "The Froggies".

Creating a buzz

In the lead up to Easter, the Frog timelines were adorned with 'coming soon' messages so children and parents became intrigued.

The concept

Everyone can be awarded Froggies with 5 different types to collect:

Frog of the Day

Teachers are to recommend a child they believe deserves 'Frog of the Day' through their online learning activity. These are sent to the Online Lead via the messaging system.

Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Froggies

Children can earn these certificates by completing their online activity on Frog. Each week the Online Lead looks at everyone's login information and awards the certificates accordingly.

The Froggies are posted to the child's personal timeline, so it appears as a notification that they can look out for. Their achievement is also posted to the class timeline and the children are encouraged to make a comment on their award.

A dedicated site called The Froggies is a place to view all of the awards that have been issued, like a 'hall of fame'. Children and staff can also share comments here and interact with one another.

Awards are also celebrated on the school's social media channels which is helping to create a real sense of excitement about who can earn a Froggie next. 

In the second week post launch, the school had received 8,000 logins which shows really positive engagement as the idea starts to take off.

River Tees MAT is a group of alternative provision schools. All children that attend are classed as vulnerable and therefore still attending each school each day. As many of the teachers are working from home, the learning situation is slightly more unusual compared with other schools...

Guidance and resources

E-Learning lead, Matt Holley has created online guidance and resources to support everyone. A Covid19 site has been shared to all stakeholders via a Frog dashboard - which Matt keeps updated, it includes:

• School documents
• Amended timetables
• Links to external support websites
• Home learning guidance
• Past papers for older students
• CPD for teachers to achieve during lock-down

Centralised 

The schools struggled to keep printed staff handbooks updated with the ever-changing Government advice. so this content was also moved onto Frog, meaning it could be updated dynamically and sit with all other resources.

Benefits of approach

• Staff can access everything from a single login 
• Information is easily updated to keep up with demand
• Approved links to external content included
• Supports remote teaching and well-being

Penistone Grammar were looking into developing a remote learning strategy before Covid-19 closures were announced, so Strategic IT Lead, Michael O'Brien had already been investigating their options...

Guidance

They prepared guidance on 'what good looks like' for their remote learning. The Headteacher outlined that for years 10-13, every hour of lesson time, teachers should use Frog to set assignments and include:

• Instructions
• The activity or task
• Assessment

Method

With activities and assessments already being used within their Frog Platform, Michael had been looking at ways in which teachers could talk through prepared material. Having rejected live video conferencing because of technical and organisational challenges, he settled on a little known feature of PowerPoint.

Recording

MS PowerPoint includes a feature which allows voice recording with a presentation. Once saved, it creates a small video file which can then be uploaded as a resource attached to a Frog Assignment.

Microsoft PowerPoint Recording a Slide Show

After creating your PowerPoint assignment - use the 'Record Slide Show' functionality.

Record your voice-over in PowerPoint.

Export your PowerPoint as a video.