In July we hosted three webinars for primary, secondary and specialist schools to explain Oak’s plans for the 2020/21 year and answer some of the questions our users have. You can rewatch these below if you missed them – and please feel free to share this page with any colleagues too.

## Primary curriculum for 2020/21

Watch Curriculum Director David Thomas and Primary Headteacher Tilly Browne as they discuss Oak’s primary curriculum plans for 2020/21.

Primary: How to make the most of Oak in 2020/21

Join Oak’s Curriculum Director, David Thomas, and Secondary Principal, Jo Facer, as they discuss Oak’s secondary curriculum plans for 2020/21.

Secondary curriculum for 2020/21

Secondary: How to make the most of Oak in 2020/21

Join Oak’s Specialist Curriculum Lead, Anne Heavey, and Subject Leads, Roseanna Gooder and Alistair Crawford, as they discuss Oak’s specialist curriculum plans for 2020/21.

Specialist curriculum for 2020/21

Specialist: How to make the most of Oak in 2020/21

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Watch our webinars to find out more about our plans for primary, secondary and specialist curricula in the 2020/21 year.

Matt Hood

2020-21 Oak curriculum webinars

*In the new world of online teaching, do you have to chose between live teaching and using recorded lessons? We invited guest blogger Tom Rogers ([@rogershistory](https://www.twitter.com/rogershistory "@rogershistory on Twitter")), History teacher, blogger for TES and founder and director of [@teachmeeticons](https://www.twitter.com/teachmeeticons "@teachmeeticons on Twitter") and [@edudateofficial](https://www.twitter.com/edudateofficial "@edudateofficial on Twitter") to describe his approach.*

“Those schools who try to do everything they would do in a face-to-face context in a remote context are going to come unstuck”, said Darren Northcott, the education lead for NASUWT at a recent webinar for teachers concerned about online teaching.

One of the most significant trends of this new world of online teaching that we find ourselves in seems to be the idea that the teacher needs to be ‘present’ all the time. This has been encapsulated in ‘live lessons’ – namely, teachers teaching their normal timetable live and on screen.

During Northcott’s presentation, he highlighted the lack of research around live lessons being better than pre-recorded, ‘non-live’ ones. And there’s certainly a broad interpretation of what’s ‘best’ in schools across the country. 

I entirely agree with Darren - we need to protect teachers’ workload and that we can’t do everything we do in a classroom. So I asked myself: does it have to be a choice between one or the other? Maybe the two approaches are not as mutually exclusive as the current conversation might lead us to believe.

There is space for a live lesson – where the students and teacher are present in the moment – that involves the teacher facilitating learning in a different way than solely delivering it all whilst also battling new technology, engagement, intervention and everything else.

My school has implemented a full timetable of ‘live’ online learning.

I wanted to come up with an approach to live lessons that would be as effective as possible whilst still allowing me a life! The idea of planning and delivering four or five live lessons a day, led solely by me, was out of the question. It’s just not a sustainable way for teachers to work. So I looked at alternatives.

I knew about Oak National Academy anyway from their work in lockdown one and quickly realised that if I could stream an Oak lesson through Microsoft Teams, then it would be almost like ‘team teaching’ the content.

As a history teacher, I knew they had most of the key content we were delivering, including the ‘medicine through time’ unit, covered.

So, my standard lesson plan is now as follows:

1. Starter/introduction/register – with a retrieval quiz activity
2. I play an Oak National Academy video lesson and pause at the points the Oak teacher says to pause (pause points are embedded in each video)! I encourage Q&A with students at these points. Pausing is used for students to complete comprehension questions and for me to answer questions and deal with any misconceptions or misunderstandings.
3. Students submit their notes and answers to any tasks set, including comprehension questions, as an assignment through the VLE.
4. I turn my own camera and mic on and lead a quiz, using something like menti.com which allows the students to submit answers that show up on screen for all students ‘live’.

(One thing to note is that you need to have the Microsoft Teams desktop app installed to be able to use the ‘share screen with audio’ button. I tried to do this originally using it through a browser and that button doesn't exist!)

The lesson is still ‘live’, so you have all the advantages of that – real time interaction with students, added accountability to attend and engage and so on. But – and this is key – using this approach means there is less onus on me, as one individual teacher, to facilitate quite complex and multi-faceted sessions, four or five times a day. 

I can ‘team teach’ virtually and add another knowledgeable, qualified, expert into my lessons. It has already saved me a huge amount of time and effort.

I am also always conscious of the student experience in my lessons, whether face to face or online, and wouldn’t want to use something that detracted from that or that I felt uncomfortable using. 

Every Oak lesson I’ve used so far has been excellent. They don’t overcomplicate things, they are easy to follow and are also as interesting and engaging as anything I could do myself in an online setting.

Thanks to all the Oak teachers and I hope this method might work for you if you are looking for a slightly different approach to lesson delivery.

And if it’s helpful to see it in action – I have created this little ‘how-to’ video here to show you how I do it: [https://youtu.be/JpBef73KO4c](https://youtu.be/JpBef73KO4c "YouTube video - How to stream Oak on Microsoft Teams")

There are many ways to approach remote education and we’re all adapting to the ways which work for us. 

For more ideas or information, Oak National Academy regularly hosts [free webinars](https://www.thenational.academy/webinars "Free webinars") to show the lots of ways schools are using the resources, and you check out and use all of their lessons for free on the [Teacher Hub here](https://teachers.thenational.academy/ "Teacher Hub").

In the new world of online teaching, should schools be trying to do more live teaching, or use more recorded lessons? Does it have to be one or the other? In this guest blog, Tom Rogers explores the options and approaches available to teachers.

Tom Rogers

Using Oak vs live lessons: does it have to be one or the other?

Schools continue to do the most incredible job to support students and families. I’m very much in awe of colleagues who are offering high-quality teaching and support not only to students in school but through their remote learning offer to those at home. The professionalism, expertise and resilience exhibited under these circumstances is inspiring!

Students who rely on SEN support are potentially facing some of the greatest disadvantages in this latest lockdown period. Many of them are less likely to have a place to remain in school as a ‘vulnerable child’ compared to their peers with an EHC plan, and in many cases are finding remote learning more difficult to access and engage with this time around. This blog explores some ideas and strategies including how you can best make use of the Oak offer to meet the needs of students working at SEN support.

Inclusion lies at the heart of the Oak National Academy offer, with all lessons and resources designed to be accessible for all students. Our lessons have all been through robust quality assurance processes and have been tested by leading SEND practitioners and other organisations in the SEND community of practice.

Our accessibility features include:

-   Closed captions for all videos

-   BSL interpreted English & Maths lessons for our younger students (Y1 - Y3)

-   Considerations to colour palette / contrasts & font size

-   ARIA hints throughout the website to support navigation

-   Visual support & Makaton signs in specialist lessons

-   Full transcripts available for all lessons

SEN support learners will likely require a more personalised remote offer and additional support to access online lessons, which in turn can add pressure and workload for their teachers. With thousands of high-quality lessons available that can be matched and aligned with your own curriculum, our advice is to not reinvent the wheel. Instead, consider how Oak resources can be personalised to best meet the needs of your students when they can’t be in the classroom with their usual support.

To help you tackle the issue of supporting SEN learners, here are ten top tips on inclusive remote learning from our amazing community of practice:

1.  Compare your curriculum with Oak National Academy, and wherever you can, pick out the resources and lessons that match. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

2.  Year group references have been taken out of all lessons, so students working a touch behind their peers can access lessons without impacting on their confidence & self esteem. Use this to select materials for you pupils to personalise how you are meeting their learning needs.

3.  Consider the pace of learning e.g. break lessons down and spend more time concentrating on fewer lessons. Screen fatigue and concentration issues are becoming very common barriers to learning.

4.  Taking quizzes or test elements out of lessons can help reduce anxieties for some learners. Consider any anxieties that may be reducing their engagement. You can turn quizzes on or off when you share a lesson from the [Teacher Hub](https://teachers.thenational.academy/).

5.  Feedback has told us that repetition & overlearning has worked really well for many students with SEND (and in a number of cases has led to accelerated learning). Build this into lessons to establish routine and embed new learning.

6.  Oak’s lessons can be downloaded and adapted via the [Teacher Hub](https://teachers.thenational.academy/), providing opportunities to scaffold and develop further resources and activities to support students working at SEN support. Where you need to, use ready-made resources as a starting point to adapt for a learner’s needs.

7.  Using the C-STEP principle (see below) can help to further personalise Oak lessons.

8.  Using Oak lessons has allowed teachers to focus more of their time on giving feedback, checking wellbeing and connecting with students and families. Instead of spending too much time planning from scratch, make time to focus on the important things that only their own teacher can accomplish.

9.  Remote learning is very much a partnership in which student and family voices are key. Work with them to create the best remote offer for their context.

10.  Encourage families to make the most of serendipitous learning. Helping around the house, daily exercise and even playing in the snow has lots of educational value!

Hopefully our Oak resources and the ideas shared in this blog are able to support you in making your remote offer accessible and engaging for all students. Find the [specialist lessons](https://classroom.thenational.academy/specialist), [mainstream classroom](https://classroom.thenational.academy/) (without references to levels or year groups) and [Teacher Hub](https://teachers.thenational.academy/) on our website, as well as further support and guidance at [support.thenational.academy.](https://support.thenational.academy/en/)

SEN Support - Accessible remote learning & making the most of the Oak offer

C-STEP Principle 

Inclusion lies at the heart of the Oak National Academy offer, with all lessons and resources designed to be accessible for all students. We take a look at how you can make the most of Oak's SEN lessons and resources.

Alistair Crawford

Top Tips for Parents Homeschooling

Supporting your children with home learning can be a daunting prospect for many parents. This is especially true for those working from home or supporting more than one child at a time.

For many, it’s been a fair few years since we’ve polished up our poetry skills or recalled the equation to measure a change in thermal energy, so suddenly being the adult supporting a child in their learning can be overwhelming.

Oak National Academy has been created by teachers with the support of the Government to support remote learning. We provide free access to  [10,000 high quality online lessons](https://classroom.thenational.academy/), for children aged 4 to 16.

With the sudden move to remote learning, here are our top tips for parents finding themselves in this situation over the coming weeks.

## 1. Follow the advice of your child’s school

Your child’s school will be developing a clear plan for what your child should learn, and when. They’re also experts in how children learn, so listen to their advice and follow their plan as closely as your situation allows.

Given how quickly the changes were announced, be patient. Teachers will be working hard to create new plans and communicate these as quickly as possible to parents. Many schools will make use of resources such as Oak National Academy, allowing your child’s teachers to assess work, provide 1-2-1 support and advice as well as teach the vulnerable and key worker children who will still attend school.

## 2. Establish a clear routine

Children are creatures of habit and routine, and applying themselves to learning at home in the same way they do at school will take some time to fall into place.

Oak National Academy lessons have been designed to give a clear structure to learning, but you should also work up a clear structure to your ‘school’ day. For younger children in particular, it can be really beneficial to write a timetable up together and display it.

If you have the space, set a clear area for learning to take place – somewhere well-lit is ideal – and remove any distractions before the lessons begin. Make sure to have a clear start and end to the day so children’s wellbeing is prioritised as well.

## 3. Build time for other things into your day

Times are challenging for all of us, not least children, and a child’s physical and mental wellbeing is as vitally important to look after as their learning.

Building in time for cooking, daily exercise, puzzles or reading for pleasure is a great way to break up learning into manageable periods and help with any difficulties with focus or screen fatigue children might experience.

## 4. Don’t try to replace the teacher

The vast majority of parents embarking on supporting home learning during national restrictions will not be trained teachers. Luckily, no one is expecting you to be!

It’s OK to tell your child if you’re unsure of a topic or skill they are learning. In fact, it can be a really powerful and rewarding experience to approach the learning of something new to you both together. Learning alongside them can be really encouraging for a child – getting frustrated that you don’t know all the answers is not good for either of you. So embark on the learning journey together!

## 5. Recognise their effort and stay positive!

We’ve heard the word ‘unprecedented’ enough times now – we know we’re living through unusual times and challenges that none of us expected to face.

Keep your child’s motivation up by keeping positive and encouraging their efforts. Chances are they are worried, confused, missing their friends and navigating a brand new way of learning.

And if they have a tough day when it’s not going to plan… that’s fine, start afresh tomorrow.

_Oak National Academy’s lessons can be accessed for free  [via our online classroom](https://classroom.thenational.academy/)._

_You can also visit our  [FAQs and support for parents and carers.](https://support.thenational.academy/en/collections/2342140-faqs-for-parents-and-carers)_

Top tips for parents supporting home learning

Supporting your children with home learning can be a daunting prospect for many parents. Our Head of Curriculum, Emma McCrea, gives you some of our top tips to help you support remote learning at home.

2020-21 Oak curriculum webinars

Primary curriculum for 2020/21

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Using Oak vs live lessons: does it have to be one or the other?

SEN Support - Accessible remote learning & making the most of the Oak offer

Top tips for parents & carers supporting home learning