This year, possibly more than ever before, there has been greater demand put on schools to ensure they’re maintaining effective communication with parents and guardians. The school’s website and mobile app is an essential part of this.
School Jotter 3 is the biggest upgrade we’ve made to our school website and app software in recent years, making it easier than ever to keep parents engaged.
Sean Gilligan, Founder & CEO of Webanywhere said: “School Jotter 3 is the most advanced solution we’ve created and has been built combining the expertise of our development team, with feedback from customers. We’ve already had a number of pre-orders from schools who are excited to use such an intuitive platform, and we’re delighted to be rolling School Jotter 3 out to school’s all over the country, starting this month.”

Arthur Howie, Product Lead for School Jotter added: “The feedback we’ve received from customers has been invaluable in helping us to create School Jotter 3, which will be suited to schools of all types. Whether you’re an individual school or a multi-academy trust, we can create a beautifully designed website and mobile app, which is a breeze to update and maintain.”
One of the first customers to see School Jotter 3, Lindsey Caplan from Irlam Primary School, said: “Everything I’d have liked to see streamlined on our school website has been built into School Jotter 3. Building and editing pages has really improved, with far fewer clicks. I can really see this update saving us time, and making it much easier for other people in the school to become involved in managing our website.”
If your school is interested in using School Jotter 3 for your website and mobile app needs, find out more here, or speak directly to one of our education consultants by calling 0113 3200 750.

In recent months educational technology (EdTech) has seen a rise in use and popularity, and not just due to Covid-19. But, what is educational technology? Simply put it’s the use of technology in teaching, via a mix of software, educational theory and computer hardware, in order to enable learning and increase performance.
Education has come on leaps and bounds since the digital age and we are now discovering, and implementing, new ways to learn assisted by technology. Long gone are the days of solely learning by rote or copy, and the era or more methodical learning with technology is on the horizon. Educational technology can range from the simplistic such as interactive online courses for students, to robots able to take lecture notes – the scope of EdTech is wide and far reaching.

What Is The Role Of Education Technology?

At its core the role of EdTech is to improve education via technology, however it has many roles depending on who is applying it and who the audience is. For example, it can play a vital role in helping students with additional needs to show their true potential, unhindered by their needs or disadvantages. In a recent report Candida Dearing, SENCO at City of London Academy, explained the role of EdTech when it comes to students with Dyslexia:
“By using the technology, pupils can show people what they can do, as opposed to what they can’t do. If you have someone who has illegible handwriting or un-decode-able spelling errors etc., all you’re going to see are the errors and not the good work that’s behind them. So using the technology means that you get a truer sense of their underlying ability in the subject”.
In this way EdTech can level the playing field of education by making it easily understandable and accessible to all abilities. In a show of support for the role of EdTech the Department of Education recently pledged £100m to provide devices and internet access for vulnerable and disadvantaged children in the UK, as well as ensuring every school has free access to tech support. This commitment and investment from the Department of Education shows just how important the role of EdTech is, and will become over the next few years. 

Why Is Education Technology So Important?

EdTech is important to help students learn new skills, interact with their peers in new ways and to discover new technology to help them build a solid knowledge database. But the importance goes much further than the students; it is extremely important for educators and students’ families too. Parents and guardians are able to have access to their child’s educational records and thus the ability to help with targeted education in the home for areas in which the student may be struggling. Education can be digested anywhere and at any time, meaning learning isn’t just bound by the walls of a school or the presence of a teacher. It means that education can be at a students fingertips whenever and wherever.
A study by the University of Cincinnati found that advancements in technology within classrooms had been beneficial to teachers, with 92% of respondents stating EdTech has had a major impact on how students learn and interact with each other. Research by Harris Interactive & Online Universities.com also found that 86% of teachers think that the use of EdTech is essential, with 92% stating they would like to see the use increased.
With such support and high praise from educators across the globe it’s easy to see why the EdTech industry is very much the talk of the town right now. The educational, time and cost benefits that can be gained from implementing even the smallest of technological changes within the classroom are vast. These benefits can be seen on a multitude of educational forums and social sites since the start of more home based learning due to Covid-19, with many teachers sharing new ways to make distance learning fun and showcasing their results. 
The future of learning is technology based and we would be remiss not to embrace this exciting industry and learn with it. The educational possibilities that properly implemented EdTech makes available in classrooms across the globe is inspiring, especially when both educators and students alike are driving those possibilities.
What are your thoughts on technology use in the classroom?

This year is a year like no other, and alongside managing the risks of day to day school life, schools are also encountering problems with fundraising in a safe and fun way. As a Co-Chair of a local village primary school, I am going to share some ideas we have had for fundraising efforts that could easily be replicated in other schools.

1 – Sponsored Walk to the North Pole

This one has a Christmas twist. Hurry! The idea is simple, your school needs to reach the North Pole for Christmas to meet Santa Claus. You create a walking or running target for each child and family participating, and then those groups get sponsorship to achieve their part of the walk. The World Walking App are offering bespoke routes to schools allowing parents to download the app and track the route to the North Pole. 

2 – The Smartie Challenge

An oldie but a goodie! Simply send a tube of smarties home with each pupil to eat. The child keeps the tube and needs to do some good deeds to fill it back up with coins. This can be done over the weekend and during half terms. Once the activity is complete parents just leave the tubes outside each class in a basket so they can be collected and counted. The class that raises the most money gets a mini prize. Some small village primary schools have been known to make over £1,000 on this activity alone. 

3 – Create a Cookery Book! 

Ask all the parents and guardians in each class to provide their favourite recipe to feature in your very own school’s cookbook! Companies like Cauliflower Books can create these for only £5 each, and you can probably sell them for around £10 each. To make it even more fun, you can ask pupils to write out the recipes or even add drawings to the pages. 

4 – Virtual Balloon Race

This is a seven day computer simulation race where everything is real apart from the balloon. You can buy one or more virtual balloons for just £3 each and give them a name, shape or pattern. The software designed to run the race uses live weather data to determine the progress of each balloon and each entry can be tracked on Google satellite map once launched. The winner is the balloon that has travelled the furthest in a straight line from the starting point. One company that offers this is Eco Racing. 

5 – Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Sale

Obviously you would need to wear masks and gloves for this one, but this is a super easy way of making money! After all, who doesn’t love a doughnut? Krispy Kreme offer a special discounted price on their original glazed doughnuts at £5.50 per dozen, which works out at 45p each. Selling the doughnuts at £1 each would quickly raise some funds for your school. Setting up this activity is easy, just order your donuts on the Krispy Kreme website with at least 10 days notice, collect them and on the day get a few volunteers to sell them at a social distance. 
As an added extra….Create a community directory of all local businesses (not for profit)
Lastly the school’s PTA could compile a directory of local businesses that any parents might be involved with, showcasing the products and services available. This is a great way for your community to show support for local businesses within their extended parents family.
With any of these activity and fundraising ideas, all of the relevant information could be easy to circulate to parents using the School Jotter Mobile App.
If you have any great and inventive fundraising ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Email them to info@schooljotter.com and we’ll update this blog post with our favourites.
Blog post authored by Claire Morritt

There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic, and resulting guidance from the Department for Education, has continued to effect the way our schools are able to run now and will do so moving forwards.
When it comes to working with our school customers, we want to help you stay on top of what’s happening in as many ways as possible, so as well as ensuring you have regular contact from our team direct, whether that’s by email or phone call, we’ve also continued to create some great and informative new episodes of the School Jotter Podcast. Here’s an overview of some of the latest episodes, available on Google Podcasts and on Spotify.

New Coronavirus Act 2020

Sean talks with Sharon and Lawrence about the new Coronavirus Act 2020 and about how schools need to ensure education continues.

Parents Evenings

Sean talks to Arthur and Lawrence about how schools can handle parents evenings in the current social climate.

Remote Education in Local Lockdowns

We examine different approaches to remote education during recent local lockdowns. We explore the use of video, learning platforms and the use of off-line work packages.
There are many more episodes of the School Jotter Podcast available, if you’d like to find out more about any of the topics covered or you’d like to suggest a topic yourself, please do contact us.

Online learning has become increasingly vital to the education sector since the onset of COVID-19, but what lessons can we take from this shift away from the classroom? Like so many other effects of Coronavirus on our society, few could have foreseen the reliance on laptops, virtual learning and study portals from schools, colleges and universities. 
With this enormous shift towards students learning at home, have we taken a step closer to eLearning platforms earning their qualifications as the flexible new future of education? 
It seems certain that the changes we are experiencing in learning environments will have a lasting impact on academia, with the positives of the shift towards online education resources becoming clear ⁠— as well as assessments about what still needs to change to drive effectiveness.
Let’s take a look at how much higher education courses may focus on eLearning and remote learning in the future, especially in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Innovation and Online Learning Systems

In recent years, many schools and universities have successfully moved towards an increased use of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and Virtual Learning Environment (VLEs). As these platforms have continued to grow and become increasingly common, their evolution provided a fantastic grounding for learning during lockdown. 
These digital channels provided a ready-made solution for schools, colleges and universities who needed to reach students online and communicate over long distances. It’s hard to disagree with the idea that without the technological advances available in the education sector, navigating this incredibly difficult situation may have been almost impossible. 
From education software all the way through to apps for schools, it’s heartening that there are so many practical and innovative approaches being taken to aid teaching and learning. 

Changes to Exams and Qualifications

The sudden and intense escalation of lockdown following the arrival of COVID-19 in the UK led to immediate challenges for teachers and lecturers. One of the most pressing issues was around how to solve the dilemma of exams for students who would ordinarily have been sitting for their written assessments this spring. So how has this unforeseen difficulty been approached?

Examinations in Higher Learning 

One way around this dilemma that’s been taken up by institutions including the University of York is sharing exam questions via their VLE and emailing them directly to students. A fixed time frame was given to students to complete the work, which they then completed using a word processor or other software, before submitting their work online to be marked.

Qualifications in Schools and Colleges 

In contrast, exam boards for GCSEs, A Levels and AS Levels reached out to schools, colleges and other exam centres, asking them to submit a ‘centre assessment grade’ for students in each of their subjects. Essentially, that meant asking for predictions of the grades they would likely have achieved, based on evidence such as classwork, non-exam assessments and mock exams results.
Both of these approaches reveal fascinating possibilities for the future, showing signs of how the education sector can adapt quickly — with technology often leading the way. It will be fascinating to see how the education sector builds on these new ways of working, as well as observing what other noteworthy innovations arise.

Boosting Students’ Access to Digital Texts

One way publishers have been able to help learners during the pandemic is by giving university libraries increased access to online texts. This is a boost to both students and lecturers, helping to ensure everyone has the necessary resources to ease the disruption to their studies. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see expanded access to digital books and journals continue for some time to come.
The library at King’s College London shows one example of this process in action. Although their website makes clear this is a temporary solution, a telling paragraph advises students that any feedback received about the extra availability of resources is ‘useful and can feed into future decisions’. This shows how shifting approaches brought on by necessity could lead to outcomes with the potential for great positive change.

Ensuring Equality to Address the ‘Digital Divide’

An important consideration as we move towards increased levels of online learning is making sure everyone can access the tools and resources they need. Universal access to fast broadband is an idea that has gained increased traction during lockdown, with plans put in place between BT and the Department of Education to temporarily provide free broadband access to disadvantaged young people, so they can study online.
A further issue to consider is the possibility of making equipment like laptops available, helping to make sure everyone is able to access online learning resources and no-one is left behind. The UK government has already put plans in place for distributing equipment to vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils, which is a truly encouraging step.

There are clear signs that the future of education is increasingly virtual, and it’s essential that we continue to build at scale to create a level playing field for students of all backgrounds. 
How do you see the future of teaching changing in the current circumstances? Do you have any examples of inspiring successes that involve using technology to benefit students? Get in touch with us on Twitter or LinkedIn to share your stories.

In these unprecedented times, families around the UK are scrambling to ensure their children have the necessary resources to continue learning at home. But almost two months into the lockdown and many parents have discovered that this is much easier said than done. 
With so many distractions at hand, from TV to games consoles, keeping children engaged in learning during the lockdown is proving difficult for many families.It’s important to understand that this is a very tough time for children too; being away from friends and having routines thrown out the window, all while being told they need to stay indoors for the foreseeable future. 
Whilst it’s important to ensure that your child remains engaged in learning throughout these difficult times, it’s just as important to look after their mental health. Often, these two things come hand-in-hand, which is why we’ve put together this helpful guide.

Maintain Routines

One of the most effective ways to keep your children engaged in learning is by keeping their routines as close to normal as possible. This means if they usually go to bed at 9pm on a school night, then make sure they continue to go to bed at a similar time. Maybe your child used to have football practice on a Tuesday evening; why not trade this for a weekly family kickabout in the garden? 
This should also be applied to the school day routine; for example by setting start and end times for the day, as well as break and lunch times. If you want to take this a step further, try to replicate the lesson schedule, too. So, if your child is used to having a history lesson at 1pm on a Tuesday, find some topical resources and aim to follow the same structure.

Regular Exercise

The benefits of regular exercise are well-proven; from better mental health to an improved immune system. The NHS recommends that young people between the ages of 5 and 18 should spend at least 60 minutes exercising each week, with adults recommended to exercise for at least 150 minutes per week. Depending on how old and active your children are this length of time can vary, but 60 minutes should be a bare minimum during the lockdown period.
Taking regular breaks can also help with this. If your child is used to running around the playground with friends at school, then why not encourage them to go out in the garden every couple of hours for some play time? Alternatively, you could make a trip to the local park, walk down to the shops, or even go on a short bike ride.

Don’t Just Stick To Textbooks

While it’s good to ensure that your child sticks to the school syllabus, encouraging them to only use textbooks is bound to result in boredom. Incorporate fun ways to learn into their day; for example, by taking part in one of the many online celebrity lessons, playing some fun online STEM games, or even putting together your own daily/weekly quiz (with prizes, of course). 
In addition, you could also teach your children other skills. This can be particularly helpful if your kids normally go to after-school clubs or a childminder’s. For younger children, this could be an arts and crafts evening, garden sports activities or even fun cooking lessons. For older children, you could teach them more complex cooking skills, how to manage finances or even tasking them with a more in-depth research-and-presentation piece on a subject they’re interested in.

Gamification

Another way to keep your child engaged during the lockdown is to gamify their learning activities. In summary, gamification is the process of adding gaming elements to non-gaming situations, such as learning. There are various ways that you can do this; one of the easiest being playing online learning games. 
You could also gamify learning by giving your children rewards when they reach a certain milestone, by introducing an element of friendly competition with daily/weekly quizzes, or by setting group assignments where your kids are rewarded for working together.

Find What Works

It’s important to recognise that different things work for different people. One of your children may be an auditory learner, whereas another may be a visual or kinesthetic learner. If this is the case, your learning plans will need to be personalised for each child based on their learning styles. This will not only ensure they can truly reap the benefits of their learning, but will also make it easier for you to plan the lessons. 
You may already know what type of learner your child is, but if not simply have a conversation with them about how they prefer to learn. Or if they don’t know, you can use one of the many free online learning style questionnaires. Try to monitor how your child responds to different tasks to get a better idea of their learning style.
Do you have any more tips to share with us on how to keep your kids healthy and engaged in learning during the lockdown? Why not get in touch with us on Twitter or LinkedIn?

Supporting wellbeing through meaningful communication during lockdown is important for all schools, and plays a vital role in MAT’s strategies for coping during lockdown. Gov.uk posted a case study on the 5th of may outlining how schools can stay in contact during lockdown. This outlines effective communication strategies that schools are using to maintain contact to support students wellbeing in both primary and secondary academies in trusts (read full article). 
The article highlights how the use of calls and consistent text messages are helping schools to continue to support student wellbeing. This highlights the reliance of some schools on text message systems, which are designed for regular use – and get very expensive when used to message large numbers of students daily. Online messaging systems with unlimited messaging, such as the School Jotter app messages add on, allow the schools to have the freedom to send persistent messages without worrying about high cost message packages.
On top of the cost of texting, privacy issues may arise with increased communication. With teachers and safeguarding staff working at home, making calls to vulnerable students could easily compromise the personal data of staff. To overcome this, School Jotter is adding a calls function to the mobile app, facilitating video or voice calls between staff and students. This is integrated with your schools MIS, so there is no unnecessary data sharing.

Alongside this, the School Jotter Mobile App lets schools share news updates, notices and newsletters through push notifications. This is a great way to share information with parents, getting messages directly to their phones.
Until the end of July, we are offering our online spellings software for free to any school who purchases the School Jotter Mobile app with messaging and calls, and the first 5 orders will gain free access to our internal communications platform, Watch and Learn, which is perfect for inter-school communication in a trust during lockdown.
Get in touch here to find out more

Homeschooling has suddenly become the new normal for many parents and guardians during the COVID-19 pandemic. This alone would mark enough of a seismic shift for millions of us, but we’ve also been working out how to homeschool while getting to grips with unprecedented changes to our working lives.
How can we make the best of this extraordinary situation, ease the pressure of teaching at home and give the children in our care the tools they need to thrive? We’ve collected together some fantastic free resources that can take the headache out of homeschooling, providing you with some peace of mind in these difficult times.

The Best Online Tools for Learning

During this period of Coronavirus homeschooling, parents and guardians have been reassured they’re not expected to directly replace teachers — instead, our role is to guide youngsters through the teaching materials provided by schools. However, it’s still a relief to know there are many online homeschooling resources available to help us dream up ideas for study topics and tasks. 
As providers of a range of educational tools for schools and further education, here at Webanywhere, we’re keen to help however we can. We’ve put together a selection of e-learning options designed to be used by teachers, but in these exceptional times, they can be really useful to parents and guardians too. 

Finding Educational Materials for Your Child

There are so many options out there that it can be tough to narrow down which educational materials are the best fit for your child’s age — and which are actually worthwhile. We’ve been able to take some of the hard work out of the equation, signposting you to some fantastic online destinations to bolster your children’s learning. 
Broken down into useful tools for students in Key Stage 1 and 2 (ages 5-11) and Key Stage 3 and 4 (ages 11-16), they are further divided up to cover key subjects including English, Maths and  Science. There are also enjoyable and educational links to content that can bolster learning for topics such as Art, Music and French. Some of the online tools we’ve highlighted include:

BBC Bitesize

Some parents may remember this long-running service from their own school days! BBC Bitesize offers a range of educational tools for learners of all ages, from primary school to secondary education and beyond. It’s also been updated with lots of info on Coronavirus homeschooling.

Tate Kids

Perfect for budding artists, Tate Kids is full of fascinating facts, fun quizzes and ideas for getting crafty at home. With lots of interactive elements and educational content, this is a great resource for keeping young minds busy and engaged.

The Children’s Poetry Archive

Full to the brim of inspiring verse, the Children’s Poetry Archive can be searched by theme and age range to find rhymes to suit all tastes. The website provides access to a wide range of poems that are read out loud by their authors, helping to bring them to life for children of all ages.

The Natural History Museum

The spectacular Natural History Museum has a special section on its website dedicated to learning resources for kids. From a directory of facts about dinosaurs to a child-friendly guide to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, this is a great pick for aspiring scientists and historians.

Using Apps to Aid Learning

You can also take advantage of digital devices to aid learning, with many fantastic educational apps available for mobile devices. Several of these can be downloaded directly to your smartphone or tablet and used as an educational aid at home, adding a little more variety to youngsters’ learning time.
Among the apps you might find useful are the language-learning platform Duolingo, the resource-packed Khan Academy, and flashcard-based learning tool Quizlet. Don’t forget to discuss online safety with youngsters in your care and set up parental controls on mobile devices as appropriate, as well as keeping an eye on the apps and websites they are using.

How to Build a Structured Routine

Guidance published by the government advises that children of primary school age will take comfort from predictable routines, which can significantly aid their learning process. Schools will provide advice for how to structure your children’s days but don’t forget other important elements of a daily routine like regular bedtimes, making time to be active and scheduled breaks.
If you’re able to work from home, aim to manage the day in a way that suits the structure of your working hours. Your employer may even be able to allow some flexibility to help you manage the twin demands of your day-to-day work with homeschooling in the Coronavirus pandemic.
Do you have any more tips to share with us about great homeschooling resources? Get in touch with us on Twitter or LinkedIn to share any amazing online tools that can make life easier for parents and guardians who are homeschooling.

I’m sure you’ve heard us talking about the latest development to our School Jotter Mobile App, Jotter calls. If you haven’t, here’s a short explanation:

Jotter Calls is an additional add-on to the School Jotter Mobile App, that lets parents communicate securely with schools through video or voice calls.

So I’m sure that leaves a few questions unanswered – can parents call me whenever they want? Do I have to give my number to parents to access this? Well, this walkthrough will answer those questions and hopefully, any others that you may have. 

Set Up

Just like any of our School Jotter products, the set up of Jotter Call is super easy. If you already have our mobile messaging add on, and we have already integrated your MIS with your School Jotter account, then it will only take a few minutes to get switched on. If you haven’t been through this process yet, worry not! It’s straightforward to go through as we now do Groupcall integration, which means we will most likely be able to get you set up very quickly and painlessly. 
We use MIS integration as it means that all your data is stored securely, it also means that no unnecessary data has to be shared between teachers and parents.

Teacher Journey 

Teachers select their availability times, this means parents can only call when teachers are willing and able to speak to them. Parents can contact teachers easily through the School Jotter App, and teachers can return any missed calls to parents. Having this system integrated into our app, means that teachers and parents can have one consolidated platform to communicate with parents through. Below is a visual walkthrough of the app from the point of view of a teacher using the app.

Parent Journey 

The app is incredibly easy for parents to use and navigate through. As the app will be using data from your MIS, parents will have to sign in to make a call, protecting teachers from being contacted by the general public. Below is a visual walkthrough of the parents journey through School Jotter Calls

If you have any questions about how School Jotter Call could help you, get in touch or click here to find out more.