Digital Platforms
Bellevue School is committed to providing a digital and online environment that is physically and emotionally safe, inclusive, and free from racism, discrimination, and bullying. Bellevue School is a Netsafe School, which means the school has completed a Netsafe Schools Review and joined Netsafe's programme to establish, develop, and promote online safety, citizenship, and wellbeing in the school community. We promote positive, and active use of digital technologies as a tool for students to curate, reinforce, enhance, and share their learning. For more information see our Digital Technology and Online Safety policy that is linked in School Docs on our school website.
The purpose of this document is to provide information about the digital platforms used at Bellevue School. We aim to provide answers to the commonly asked questions and an understanding of why we have selected the digital tools we have.
Reading Eggs and Mathseeds are used in the junior school while Reading Eggspress and Mathletics are used by the rest of the school. If you have any questions about which platform your child is using and why, please contact your child’s whānau teacher. Seesaw is used school-wide and provides effective communication between school and home.
Screen Time
Finding a balance between the educational benefits offered by digital technologies and those offered by collaboration, personal interactions and engaging with learning in the 'real world' is a priority for Bellevue School. Our device: student ratio is 1:2 so as to support the important learning conversations that take place when working collaboratively.
We also recognise that not all screen time is equal. Below are definitions we find helpful in distinguishing between students being consumers of digital content and 'learning how to design quality, fit-for-purpose digital solutions' New Zealand Curriculum Digital Technologies.
Passive Screen Time involves sedentary screen-based activities and/or passively receiving screen-based information, such as watching TV or a DVD.
Active Screen Time involves cognitively or physically engaging in screen-based activities, such as practising a skill for homework, playing video games, creating digital content (coding, presenting learning through video) or publishing to a real world audience.
Another great resource that you can explore is the website Netsafe. This website is supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Justice. Great starting points are looking at Screen Time Advice for Parents, Managing Time Online and Online Safety Parent Toolkit which is available in five different languages.
Seesaw
At Bellevue, we use this platform to share the learning that happens in the classroom with parents and caregivers in ‘real time’. Teachers and students can share photos, videos, and digital work from Google Docs, Google Slides etc. Tasks can be set by teachers for students to complete that are posted once completed and approved by the teacher. Seesaw has the function for parents and caregivers who are connected to the student’s profile to provide feedback by liking and commenting on their childs posts. You can also send messages to your child’s whānau and hub teachers. The teachers can send you private messages, whole hub announcements, updates, and important information that needs to be shared in a safe space. For this to happen it is important that you have your own family account to receive these messages and to be able to message them back. Often, we have parents logged in as their child instead of as themselves meaning that they do not see the messages sent to just families/caregivers.
How do I gain access to my child’s Seesaw account?
Students are sent home with a QR Code and/or you are sent an invitation via email that you can complete and this will link you to your child's account. These invitations will prompt you to either login or create an account as a family member. It is really important that you remember the login details. You are able to share this QR Code with extended members of your family so they can also see the work that your child is doing at school. If you do this, please inform your child’s whānau teacher of their names so they are aware of this.
Reading Eggs, Fast Phonics and Reading Eggspress:
The following literacy platforms allow teachers to assign students lessons and task that reinforce the learning that is happening in the classroom. The assigned work is able to be completed independently and teachers can track and analyse progression reports to view the students' understanding of the given task. Once completed, the students have choices within the adaptive programme. The programme will adapt to the students level of achievement and have requirements before moving them onto the next stage. By completing tasks and lessons, students earn rewards such as a form of currency that they can choose to spend on customising their avatar or their avatar's home.
Mathseeds and Mathletics:
These Mathematic platforms are reliant on teachers placing their students at the right level for their learning. This provides students with the opportunities to practise what they have been learning in the classroom independently. Results of the student’s outcomes are tracked and analysed by the teachers to ensure that students have been placed appropriately and if changes to their levels need to be made. On this platform, students gain extrinsic rewards for completing tasks such as points, digital certificates and customisable avatars.
Apps:
All five of these platforms are available as apps for free download. It will just require students to login using their login details that they use at school. Students are able to log in to Seesaw at home.
Do remind the students to log out. This way you can log yourself back in as a family member to receive notifications, comment, like and send messages as yourself and not your child.
Please note that Fast Phonics and Reading Express are run through the Reading Eggs app.
