In 2020, Ark Schools launched a ‘Digital Strategy’ in response to what the COVID crisis highlighted about the importance of technology in education. As part of this new Digital Strategy, students all have access to the full suite of ‘Office 365’ applications from wherever they are in the world and from whatever device they are using. Through widespread use of this package, we hope to improve the quality of home learning opportunities that our students receive, develop student digital literacy as an important lifelong skill, and promote student independence when learning outside of the classroom.

Our vision, at Ark Alexandra, is to ensure that all students have access to appropriate technology at home to support their learning. We have already provided many of our students with a Chromebook; our digital strategy which ensured all students had access to digital technology to learn using the school’s online resources, during the last lockdown impressed Ofsted during their visit in March. The plan in place is to the roll out chrome books to every student. This one-to-one device project intends to give students more time for learning at home, including:

  • Completing usual homework on the device
  • Working through online learning materials that the school shares via SharePoint, MS Teams and Show My Homework
  • Researching topics for school projects
  • Pre-reading articles or watching videos in advance of a new topic at school
  • Completing short tests to check learning from lessons during the day or week
  • Communicating with teachers and accessing lessons in the case of absence from school
  • Studying and revising independently for tests and GCSE exams
  • Catch up using online learning platforms when they have fallen behind in lessons

To help our students make the most of digital learning, Ark Schools has put together a range of resources on their website ‘Ark SPArk’ – a place where students can find work relevant to their year group and each subject, as well as access to new tools that might help them to catch up. This includes signposting to third party apps, the Oak National Academy, BBC Bitesize, etc, so that pupils have quick access to useful learning apps. Other software that we highly recommend as a resource for additional independent learning includes: Hegarty Maths and Seneca.

Finally, our one-to-one device project will enable students to join and participate in lessons while at home.

Year 11 to 12 A Level and BTEC Transition Resources

Academic Intervention

Contracts and Agreements

Letters to Parents/Carers

Policy

Devices

If you have been issued with a device, please use the following document to assist you using it:

Useful

 

Digital learning tools

MS Teams SENECA SPARK
    Hegarty Maths GOOGLE CLASSROOM SHOWMYHOMEWORK
    • Visit Hegarty Maths
    • Contact your teacher for support with accessing this service.
    • Visit Google Classroom
    • Use your usual school email address and password to log in.
      • Visit ShowMyHomework Login.
      •  Scroll down and click "Sign in with Office 365". 
      • Use your usual school email address and password to log in.

       

      Issues connecting:

      The school email and password will allow you access to MS Teams, ShowMyHomework, Google Classroom and more. They all share the same login information.

      If you don't know your school email address or password, please contact your Head of Year for a reset. Contact information is on our website at https://arkalexandra.org/contact-us

      Further issues:

      If your account doesn't exist, you can't see your class or there is no homework, please email us at online-learning@arkalexandra.org.