Secondary Home Learning

School Closure and Home learning

School may be closed, but the best students will remain hungry for quality learning opportunities. Working independently is going to be quite a challenge and will require individual resilience and determination. Independent learning is not the same as learning on your own, however: your teachers will be available on-line at the times detailed below to offer support and ensure you are progressing: much in the same way as University tutors engage students for distance learning degrees. To contact your teachers, simply log in to Office 365 Teams, find the room/teacher you want and make contact. Your teachers will be on-hand to support your independent learning through contact such as:

Answering direct questions that you may have regarding content,
Posting activties and subject-related challenges such as past-paper questions,
Coordinating pre-arranged on-line tutorials based on a theme, for example: “10:00-10:30: online chat reviewing Weber’s explanation of Social Stratification with Mr Walker“
Setting new reading or wider resources to really master your subjects,
Responding to submitted work or sharing good examples of practice,
Raising aspirations by looking past GCSE to Post-16 courses, demonstrating how your GCSE will lay a foundation of skills and knowledge to succeed at A-Level (or equivalent).

Each subject area has a set time during which they will be online each day – if a student wished, they could engage with teachers directly for a full 25 hours per working week via these means.

Online	Subject
09:00-10:00	Creatives: Art, DT, Music, Food, Photography
10:00-11:00	Higher Maths, Foundation Maths
11:00-12:00	Science: Triple, Higher, Foundation
12:00-13:00	English Lit, English Lang
13:00-14:00	Humanities: Geog, Hist, RE
14:00-15:00	Spanish, iMedia, PE

If you are having issues logging in please email ict@starbank.bham.sch.uk with your Name, Form and Date of Birth and the ICT team will get back to you on the contract details you supply.

Students and parents can contact Subject Leaders and subject teachers directly via email during school working hours. Please allow up to 24 hours for reply.

English	S Roy	s.roy@starbank.bham.sch.uk
English	L Ali	l.ali@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Maths	I Rehim	i.rehim@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Maths	N Bukradeen	n.bukreedan@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Science	N Kiyani	n.kiyani@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Science	S Hussain	s.hussain@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Creatives (DT, Food, Art and Photography)	G Gurney	g.gurney@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Music	A Marsh	a.marsh@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Art and Photography	S Arif	s.arif@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Geography	F Catall	f.cattell@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Geography	J Begum	j.begum@starbank.bham.sch.uk
History	F Inman	f.inman@starbank.bham.sch.uk
History	S Gregory	s.gregory@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Religious Studies	S Khalid	s.khalid@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Religious Studies	P Walker	p.walker@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Sociology	P Walker	p.walker@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Spanish	J Khan	j.khan@starbank.bham.sch.uk
Spanish	E Rubio	e.rubio@starbank.bham.sch.uk
PE	V Allen	v.allen@starbank.bham.sch.uk
PE	R White	r.white@starbank.bham.sch.uk

If pupils have any login queries, they can contact ict@starbank.bham.sch.uk

KS4 Resources

GCSE Pod

GCSE Pod is an on-line learning platform. It hosts a wide range of subject and exam-specific resources including videos covering course content, assignments and self-check tasks. GCSE Pod also tracks the progress of each child and personalises ‘next steps’ to best support their development and GCSE Progress.

As we approach exams, students can access a section on GCSE Pod called “My Courses.” Here they can view upcoming exams (including exam dates) and view playlists of Pods covering the topics relevant to each exam. We ask that students review topics that have been taught in class and revise their knowledge. Students can tick the star icon to favourite any Pods they wish to return to.

Finally, in Maths and English Literature, students can test their knowledge independently using GCSEPod’s fantastic ‘Check & Challenge’ feature. To do so, they visit any Maths and selected English Literature playlists and click the purple “C&C”. This will start a short self-marking assessment.

For more ways to support your child using GCSEPod, please visit www.gcsepod.com/parents where you’ll find lots more information and resources.

Logging in to GCSE Pod:

Go to gcsepod.com and click “Login” in the top right-hand corner
Click “New here? Get started.”
Select “Student”
Enter your child’s name, date of birth and the school name.
Create a username, password, and a password hint to help them remember the password.

If you have any questions regarding GCSE Pod please message support@gcsepod.com

Teams

We will be using Microsoft Teams, which is part of the school email system Office 365. Teams is a way for teachers and their classes to share resources and give tasks which need to be completed whilst we are home learning.

Logging in to Teams:

Login to school email address – http://mail.starbankschool.co.uk
You will have been accepted into some Teams
Go to the Teams Page by selecting the App Launcher
Go to each Team (Subject Group)
From here you will be able to see posts from your teacher about what you need to do.
You can also ask questions and answer questions if asked.
Your teacher can upload useful documents such as past papers, powerpoints and videos.

Seneca

Seneca is a learning platform that will support students learning Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Hospitality & Catering.

Logging in to Senca:

Go to senecalearning.com and click “students start here” on the first button
Click the title of the unit that you wish to study,
Follow the on-screen instructions to answer the questions.
Seneca will mark your responses and suggest next steps personalised to individual need.

Maths Watch

Mathswatch is an electronic learning platform dedicated to Mathematics.

Logging in to Mathswatch:

Go to vle.mathswatch.co.uk and enter ‘username’ and ‘password’,
Click the title of the unit that you wish to study to access the video,
Follow the on-screen instructions to answer the associated questions.
Seneca will mark your responses and suggest next steps personalised to individual need.

Pearson Active Learn

Active Learn hosts resources to support Spanish revision.

Logging in to ActiveLearn:

Go to www.pearsonactivelearn.com and and enter ‘username’ and ‘password’,
Click the title of the unit that you wish to study to access the video,
Follow the on-screen instructions to answer the associated questions.

Past Papers

GCSE Exam papers and GCSE past paper mark-schemes are available to download through a KS4 Sharepoint site.

To Access

Go to https://starbankprimary.sharepoint.com/sites/KS4ExamPaper and and login with your school email address.
At the top click Documents and then select the subject you are looking for.

Yr 10 Yr 11 partial closure letter March 2020

Click to view letter

KS3 Resources

English Support

Students will receive a copy of a class reader from their English teacher. This will be a novel, new to the students, which they will be able to explore thematically by completing the review attached to this letter.

Microsoft Teams

Logging in to Teams:

Login to school email address – http://mail.starbankschool.co.uk
You will have been accepted into some Teams
Go to the Teams Page by selecting the App Launcher
Go to each Team (Subject Group)
From here you will be able to see posts from your teacher about what you need to do.
You can also ask questions and answer questions if asked.
Your teacher can upload useful documents such as past papers, powerpoints and videos.

Seneca

Seneca is a learning platform that will support students learning Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Hospitality & Catering.

Logging in to Senca:

Go to senecalearning.com and click “students start here” on the first button
Click the title of the unit that you wish to study,
Follow the on-screen instructions to answer the questions.
Seneca will mark your responses and suggest next steps personalised to individual need.

Maths Watch

Mathswatch is an electronic learning platform dedicated to Mathematics.

Logging in to Mathswatch:

Go to vle.mathswatch.co.uk and enter ‘username’ and ‘password’,
Click the title of the unit that you wish to study to access the video,
Follow the on-screen instructions to answer the associated questions.
Seneca will mark your responses and suggest next steps personalised to individual need.

Additional useful links

Big History Project
https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home
Aimed at Secondary age. Multi-disciplinary activities themed around key historical events.

Geography Games
https://world-geography-games.com/world.html
Geography gaming to learn and explore key content.

iDEA Awards
https://idea.org.uk/
Digital enterprise award scheme you can complete online

Pearson Active Learn

Active Learn hosts resources to support Spanish revision.

Logging in to ActiveLearn:

Go to www.pearsonactivelearn.com and and enter ‘username’ and ‘password’,
Click the title of the unit that you wish to study to access the video,
Follow the on-screen instructions to answer the associated questions.

Yr 7 to Yr 9 Partial closure letter March 2020

Click to view letter