LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

VE DAY As part of our commitment to promote students’ understanding of fundamental British values, we had planned to host a array of different events to mark VE day. In light of current circumstances, I am grateful to the History and Media departments who have made a splendid video which reflects on VE day. Please do view this on our social media sites if you get chance. I have written to the students in the student bulletin some thoughts about the relevance of the VE day, and share the following extract with you too: On Friday at 11am, all people are encouraged to take part in a national moment of remembrance and pause for a two minute silence to honour the service and sacrifice or the Second World War generation. And as we do we remember that on the 8th May 1945, the message was that despite all that the Second World War had inflicted, people dared to look forward. They dared to hope once more, dared to believe that all might ‘be well’. After the pain, there was the prospect of healing; after the conflict, reconciliation; after death and destruction, life and love. When addressing the public on VE Day in 1945, King George VI called upon people to remember those who died and to, ‘...make the world such a world as they would have desired for their children and for ours.’ How appropriate for us - in the challenging circumstances that we face today - to this week spend some time as individuals, as a school community and as a nation to reflect on these things.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR FRIDAY 8 MAY (BANK HOLIDAY) • As Friday is a Bank Holiday, remote learning will not be set for this day. • Longsands will continue to be open on Friday to offer provision to the children of key workers. We would be grateful if parents/carers can respond to the email sent so we know how many students to expect on this day.

STUDENT SURVEY - REMOTE LEARNING Last week, students at Longsands Academy took part in a survey. We wanted to find out how they were coping with their school work during this extended period of lockdown. Overall, students were extremely constructive and helpful. By the closure deadline on Wednesday evening, 835 individually completed forms had been completed which is really encouraging. We have shared the findings in this week’s student bulletin. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated – answers were really helpful and have resulted in us thinking about a small number of changes which should help students even more. LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

STUDENTS IN ENGLAND ENCOURAGED TO APPLY NOW FOR STUDENT FINANCE The Student Loans Company has confirmed that the application service will remain open to students as part of its response to the COVID-19 outbreak and are encouraging students in England to apply for student finance as soon as possible to ensure their finances are in place for the new academic year. New students are being asked to submit their applications before 22 May 2020. The Student Loans Company is contacting returning students to remind them to reapply for their next year’s student finance. The deadline for these applications is 19 June. Please do contact a member of the Sixth Form team if you need support with this. Applications for student finance can be made here:https://www.gov.uk/student-finance

‘CHAT HEALTH’ IS HERE TO HELP Chat Health remains open to support young people aged 11-19 during the Covid-19 restrictions. Young people can text 07490 635 443 to receive advice support and information on a range of health issues such as emotional health and wellbeing, self-harm, anxiety, health relationships, bullying and internet safety, health eating, active lifestyles and substance misuse.

SENIOR PREFECT TEAM APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR STUDENTS IN YEAR 10 The Senior Prefect Team at Longsands Academy has a vital student leadership role in assisting staff, representing the views of their peers and supporting younger students. We look to our Prefects to act as ambassadors for the school and to uphold the highest standards at all times. The responsibilities of our Prefect team are wide-ranging. There are 3 committees: outreach, editorial and raising awareness. The outreach committee play a key role in the local community, the editorial team organise Year 11 celebrations and commemorative items and the raising awareness committee lead fundraising events. For our current Year 10 students, applying to become a Prefect is an excellent opportunity to develop their leadership skills, show initiative and represent our Academy. Details of the application process and guidance resources have been emailed to all students in Year 10 and their parents/carers. This information is also available on the school website and social media. Letters of application should be sent to Mrs Hills by Friday 22nd May. We strongly encourage students in Year 10 to consider applying for the role of Prefect. The application process itself is a fantastic opportunity to prepare for future applications to colleges, Sixth Forms and apprenticeships. We look forward to receiving this year’s applications and are excited to work with the new Prefect Team next academic year.

ESSENTIAL STATIONERY COLLECTION Our thanks to all parents/carers who collected essential stationery last week and followed the social distancing procedures we put in place. We will be guided by government instruction with regards to the lockdown and, if necessary, repeat this offer of support later this term. LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK (18-24 MAY) Mental Health Awareness Week is hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, this year the theme of Mental Health Awareness Week is kindness. The Mental Health Foundation want to use the week to celebrate the thousands of acts of kindness that are so important to our mental health, and also to start a discussion about the kind of society we want to shape as we emerge from the COVID-19 outbreak. LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

PD: LLW This winter, a new variant of the coronavirus, known as Covid-19, was discovered in Wuhan, China. The virus has spread across the world, leading to illnesses, deaths and closures of schools and other public places. Entire countries have declared a ‘shut down’ and the World Health Organisation has confirmed the spread of Covid-19 to be a pandemic. A virus outbreak can be a stressful time, especially when it is an unknown disease. Therefore the need for staying safe and focusing on what acts of kindness we can do to support each other is vital. The situation may be concerning, but it is important to remember that, during an outbreak, professionals across the world work towards understanding a disease and slowing its spread. A short period of self-isolation and limiting social contact with others is a common reality right now, but understanding why it is necessary, preparing ourselves for it and developing empathy for those experiencing it is key. It is important, if you have symptoms of the virus, to self-isolate to protect others as well as ourselves. Help friends or relatives who self-isolate because of the virus with simple acts of kindness. They might become lonely or anxious on their own and acts of kindness can help them to cope better with their circumstances. > Phoning regularly, using Skype or other methods to stay in contact > Do someone’s shopping for them and leave it on their doorstep > Playing games or working on projects together virtually Take some time to focus on positive news stories, such as the ways communities are coming together to support each other and appreciate health workers during this period.

PD: STAYING SAFE ONLINE DURING THE LOCKDOWN As part of our Personal Development (PD) programme we regularly revisit the important issue of online safety, applying this to topics such as online banking, online relationships and social media use. In this week’s student bulletin there is some advice for students on how to check their social media settings and how to create a positive online presence. Some of our online safety units cover security and fraud and you may already be aware of an increase in certain types of fraud. During this difficult time there may, for example, be an increase in telephone scams, as more people self-isolate, or contact from loan sharks preying on people’s financial hardship. More information on how to protect yourself, family and friends can be found by joining Friends Against Scams, please visit their website www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk You can also report fraud online to Action Fraud www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.

TOUCH TYPING COMPETITION A touch-typing competition has been launched for students - full details are available in the Student Bulletin. Please encourage your son/daughter to take part as it is an excellent way for them to improve their typing skills. To take part, students should go to www.longsands.typingclub.com and log in using their student ID number and the password: longsands LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

FAMILY MEAL PLANNER

Here are ten, two-course, budget meal ideas to feed a family of four. The aim is for this to come under the equivalent value of the Free School Meal voucher of £30.

The recipes are intended to be simple and include a balanced, healthy, variety. Although we have indicated approximate nutrional values, please do check individual packaging for specific details.

A suggested shopping list is shown below and prices are based on supermarket own brands. We will include one receipe per week, we hope you enjoying making ‘bangers, mash & veg’ last week - for this week try ‘pasta and tomato sauce’.

Please also keep an eye on our Facebook page where we have been sharing photographs of cooking and baking sent in by students.

Happy cooking! LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

NATIONAL ONLINE SAFETY GUIDANCE This week, the National Online Safety group has issued parent/carer guidance on how to keep children safe whilst playing on Google Stadia,Google’s flagship game streaming platform. LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

LEARNING SUPPORT: DYSLEXIA Please find below details of some Andriod and Apple apps that students with dyslexia might find helpful to use to complement and support their learning.

There are different ones that can be used to support areas such as reading, writing stories, note takingand organisation, for example. We hope that you will find these helpful and will share more in future editions.

Android Apps for Learners with Dyslexia/ iPad Apps for Learners with Dyslexia/ Reading and Writing Difficulties Reading and Writing Difficulties

Toy Story My Reading Fairy Bookbug’s First Words Read Along Words Tales Songs & Creative Phonics and Deluxe Audible Rhymes Reading 1 Book Builder Lite Google Comic Comic Life : Bookbug’s Songs Book Keep Strip Pro Reminders Reading To-Do List and Rhymes Traps Phonics Clicker Books Speak & Tasks Montessori Magic Genius Screen Clear Our Story 2 Words and Todos Phonics Cereproc- Stuart* Story Books Present Speak Mind Games Life Book Writer Capti for Kids Pal Bitsboard Me Books Voice Selection Reminders Free Remember Story the Milk Reminder Creator Acapela - Elevate with Voice Hairy Text To Speech TTS Voices* Word Voice Marvin 3 Lumosity Google* Brain School Reminders Phonics Reader Wizard for Audible Dream Speechify Neuronation - Me Books Creative Text-to-Speech Training Book Remember Kids Reader Brain Training Book Creator the Milk Builder Apple Books Calendar @Voice Aloud Voice Explain Everything EasyReader Reading Reading Dream Lumosity Reminders Clarospeak Reminders Reader Whiteboard Early Instapaper Memory Games Early ClaroSpeak Reader Moon+ Kindle Reader Pro Improving Kobi

Talking Books Talking Web GoodReader Improving Books Amazon Kindle Creating Pinterest Reader Memory Stories Memory Creating Libby Stories EBook Scoop It! Google Keep Pocket Text to Go Read Reader Information Memory Speech Text to Safari Adobe Information Speech Gathering Google Reading Reader iAnnotate Pinterest Gathering FB Reader eBooks PDF Cool Play Books Expert Reading Reader SimpleMind+ ClaroPDF eBooks Popplet Working Mind Organisation Reading with PDFs Mind Mapping Mapper SimpleMind ClaroPDF Readiris Mind Working Adobe Scanning Office Lens SnapType Mindomo Mindscope Outliner Mapping with PDFs Acrobat Xodo PDF Mind Inspiration Ideament Prizmo Translate EZ PDF Reader Letter Reader Mapper Maps Formation/ photo Reader Pro Typing Scanning Handwriting Mindjet Mindly Word Foxit Tutors Seeing AI Claro Sentence knfbReader Maps MobilePDF Writing Structure ScanPen Processing Visual Stress Word Office TapTyping Keyboards Writing Google Letter Wizard Writing Formation/ Lens Text Support Docs Handwriting Typesy Processing Sentence Fast Typer abcJoinedUp Structure Grabber + Text Fairy LetterReflex Audio Notes Claro Scan 2 Office Translator Hairy Letters Pen Word Burst Suite Pro Word Typing Game Pages Audio Notes Sentence

Note Taking Writing Tint Support Builder Pocket Polaris Easy Voice Keyboards Vision Envision AI Note Taking Phonics Office Recorder Microsoft SoundNote Rainbow School Adobe Word Keeble Writing Evernote Sentences ABC Tracing for Eye Games Scan Keedogo Dyslexia Documents by Sentence Livescribe+ Ginger Preschool Color Screen Myscript Siri Plus Readdle Ginger Voice Maker Keyboard Filter Nebo Appwriter AudioNote 2 PAGE Dream Note Clicker Grammar Writer OneNote SwiftKey Everything Sentence Docs LetterSchool Free Notability Keyboard Dyslexia AudioNote Flexpansion Maker Pear Clicker Read&Write Screen Filters Microsoft iWordQ Keyboard ColorNote Keyboard Note Writer OneNote Easy Correct Me Notepad Spelling Hairy Letters Sonocent SuperKeys Sight Spell Writing Link Evernote Easy Page Words inku Grammarly ai Type Checker Wizard NoteTalker Dyslexia AppWriter Squid Keyboard *Many high quality voices Otter Aid in different languages are GoodNotes 4 available for Android devices Read&Write Easy Dyslexia & - these are just examples Skitch Gboard Word and Dysgraphia Aid from some of the major Dyslexic’s Co:Writer* Swiftkey Sentence developers. Note that if you AbiliPad Dictionary *Co:Writer is not Building available in the UK Google Voice Typing download a voice you will be able to use it across different apps on your Android. This is the 8th version of iPad Apps for Learners with Dyslexia/Reading and Writing Difficulties to be produced since it was first This is one of a series of ‘App Wheels’ produced by CALL Scotland, iPad versus Android launched in October 2013. It has been downloaded from the CALL web site over 140,000 times since it was first launched. available from the address below. It focuses on Android Apps The iPad is well established as an educational tool, but Android tablets (and smartphones) The ‘Wheel of Apps’ is not comprehensive, but attempts to identify relevant, useful apps and to categorise them according to to support reading and writing. Note that some apps address a are becoming increasingly popular. difficulties faced by people with dyslexia. Note that some apps address a range of difficulties. To save space, we have not placed range of difficulties. To save space, we have not placed individual • Android tablets are generally less expensive than iPads. individual apps into multiple categories, but have listed them under a single category that is particularly relevant to the app. apps into multiple categories. Links on the electronic version are • There are more educational apps available for iPads, than for Android devices. ‘clickable’, taking you to the Google Play Store. Links on the electronic version are ‘clickable’ and will take you to the Apple App Store. • There is less ‘quality control’ over Android apps so some don’t work properly, or This is not a comprehensive list, but an attempt to identify perform in unexpected ways. A more comprehensive guide to Apps to Support Literacy Difficulties is included in ouriPads for Communication, Access, Literacy relevant, useful apps and to categorise them according to • Many Android devices cannot be upgraded to the latest version of the operating and Learning book, available printed, or as a free download from: http://www.callscotland.org.uk/downloads/Books/ difficulties faced by people with dyslexia. Unlike the iPad, there system so some apps won’t work on them. is little consensus on the ‘best’ Android apps for education, so • The Android is less tightly controlled than the Apple iOS, so some CALL Scotland has produced a wide range of posters providing information about how assistive technology can support learners we would be happy to receive suggestions for inclusion in future apps, e.g. voices, can work across most apps in an Android device, unlike the iPad with additional support needs. Download free from: http://www.callscotland.org.uk/downloads/posters-and-leaflets/ versions. Email suggestions to [email protected]. where voices other than the iOS system ones have to be downloaded separately for each app.

Version 1.8.1, February 2020 CALL Scotland, The University of Edinburgh. CALL Scotland is part funded by the Scottish Government. An electronic version of this chart can be downloaded from: Version 1.4, October 2019 CALL Scotland, The University of Edinburgh. http://www.callscotland.org.uk/downloads/posters-and-leaflets CALL Scotland is part funded by Scottish Government. A PDF version of this app wheel (and other posters) can be downloaded from http://www.callscotland.org.uk/downloads/posters-and-leaflets WEEKLY STUDENT BULLETIN Please encourage your son/daughter to read the weekly Student Bulletin that we have emailed them. The Student Bulletin contains lots of advice, guidance, challenges and general information from your child’s teachers and pastoral teams and is a good way for them to remain ‘in touch’ with the school. LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

DODDLE GUIDE FOR PARENTS In view of the COVID-19 information, please be reminded that we use Doddle as our online learning platform. You can see the homework that is due now, and any overdue homework. You can also see all the homework your child has submitted on Doddle throughout the year, and the marks they have achieved for the quizzes they have taken. You’ll have the full picture of what your child needs to do at home, and you can access this on the go, as Doddle Parent is available on your mobile or tablet.

Guide for Parents: Homework

Doddle Parent: Homework

Doddle Parent has been created for the people who care most about their children’s education — you!

Doddle Parent lets you see the homework your child has been set in different subjects. You can see the homework that is due now, and any overdue homework. You can also see all the homework your child has submitted on Doddle throughout the year, and the marks they have achieved for the quizzes they have taken.

You’ll have the full picture of what your child needs to do at home, and you can access this on the go, as Doddle Parent is available on your mobile or tablet.

How can I use Doddle Parent to support my child? • See all the homeworks your child has, now and in the coming weeks, to help them manage their time and meet deadlines. • Look at the homework tasks and resources so you can talk with your child about what they have to do and any support they need. • Get a better understanding of how they are doing with homework by looking at submitted work and quiz scores. + Departmental Stuff

How do I log in? It’s easy! Your school will provide you with a 16-digit number — your parent ‘key’ — and you’ll need access to your email account to register your account. Watch our 2 minute video on how to do this at www.doddlelearn.co.uk/support/parent To log in to Doddle Parent, visit www.doddlelearn.co.uk, click on Log in, and select the Doddle Parent button. If you already have a Doddle Parent login, click Switch to Homework in the top-right to change to the Homework view.

Having trouble? If you need a reminder of your parent key, or you have questions about your child’s curriculum or progress, please contact your school.

For technical queries relating to Doddle Parent, contact Doddle. Visit: www.doddlelearn.co.uk Email: [email protected] Call: 01865 208 440 3.7_0317v1 LONGSANDS ACADEMY WEEKLY BULLETIN

Monday, 4 May 2020 (Week B)

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD HAS FORGOTTEN THEIR SCHOOL EMAIL PASSWORD?

If your child needs a password change, for example their email, doddle or GCSEpod, go to the Academy website https://www.astrea-longsands.org/student-password-reset-form/ or find it using the instructions below:

1. Go to the Students menu and select ‘Log ins’, then Student Password Reset.

2. To reset your child’s email password complete the form as described below. For GCSEpod, Doddle and all other resources use the information at the bottom of the webpage.

• The student will need to fill in the form with their details.

• Their Student ID is their login number for school.

• Once sent, the IT team will make a new temporary password that will be emailed to the registered email address of their parent/carer.

• They will then need to change this password and we would recommend they make a note of it in a safe place or write down clues to help them remember.

Once they log in, your child will be taken to this screen to enter their password.

Please can we ask that your child takes care when they are composing an email, we have put together some ‘email etiquette guidance’ that we recommend students read before sending an email: https://www.astrea-longsands.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Longsands-Student-Email-Guidance.pdf

COMMUNICATION WITH THE SCHOOL In addition to this weekly bulletin, there are a variety of ways in which we will contact you, including by telephone, by letter, via the Astrea App, via Doddle, in writing, in newsletters, on social media and via our website.

If during this time you should need to make contact with us, please email [email protected] in the first instance - your message will then either be dealt with or passed on to the most appropriate memberof Academy staff.

We will aim to respond to any enquiry within 2-3 working days.