Resources and Advice for Supporting Home Learning
Last Updated: 7th January 2021 (If you have any ideas or suggestions please email: [email protected] )
Supporting learning can be a daunting prospect but it can also be creative, fun and bring families closer. It is important to remain relaxed and understand that it will take time for many children to adjust to learning at home and those with SEND may require extra time and support. It is key to remember that the government guidance on Coronavirus must be followed so that we can return to normal life as quickly and safely as possible. Your child's education provider should be providing appropriate learning materials for the duration of the lockdown and this should be your main resource. The aim of this page is to gather further resources, information and guidance that are available on the web to help aid and vary your child's learning at home. If you know of anything then please do share it with the Local Offer through facebook or by emailing [email protected] .
National and Local Government Guidance and Resources to Support Home Learning
Central Government has generated further 'Guidance on Supporting your children's education during coronavirus (COVID-19)' . There are three sections to this which you can jump to below:
The UK government has published 'Coronavirus (COVID 19): list of online education resources for home education'. This article contains guidance on educational resources available that have been suggested by a range of leading educational experts. The resources are currently free. You can view the full article as well as jump to SEND specific guidance and resources .
The West Sussex Short Breaks Team have produced an Accessible Virtual Short Breaks Wiki. The Wiki is all about sharing fun and support from familiar, local faces and voices as well as to help bring activities, resources and other things that people with a range of SEND's can do at home. Open Virtual Short Breaks in a new tab.
The West Sussex Learning and Behaviour Advisory Team and The Autism and Social Communication Team have shared some resources, they have made or found, with the Local Offer that may be of use:
Educational Psychology Service (EPS)
Dr Audrey Hunt and Dr Denita Whitelock from the West Sussex Educational Psychology Service have produced on line resources for parents to support their children’s wellbeing. For more information on EPS visit their Local Offer service card.
Supporting your child with their emotional wellbeing during the COVID 19 pandemic:
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Support and Resources Shared With the Local Offer
Below here are a series of categories containing resources, advice and guidance to help support learning at home. The resources have been shared with the Local Offer from a range of sources. The most current shared resource will be at the top of each section.
Fun and Games
Young Minds have a collection of simple activity ideas as well as some good conversation starts to help talk about well being with young people on their website .
Family Lives has an article titled 'Fun things to try with disabled children' which has been written by a parent and has suggestions of sensory activities.
100 Things to do Indoors is a free resource with different activities to help stay entertained during isolation.
Exercise Activities
Kris at Parasport is releasing a series of videos for those in wheelchairs to help them stay fit and healthy! Watch part one on the Parasport website .
Bumble Bee Physio is a group on Facebook that has exercise routines for children in a wheelchair. They also do live sessions on Facebook.
Join 'Cosmic KIDS!' for lots of fun yoga stories including Frozen, Harry Potter, Minecaft and many more!
Jump Start Jonny has a range of exercise resources to help burn off some of the extra energy children or you may have yourself.
Wellbeing and Mental Health Resources
OCD-UK - Helpful tips on managing OCD symptoms and dealing with handwashing during covid-19 outbreak
National Autistic Society – Covid-19 guidance and helpline for parents, young people and staff
Mental health UK - 6 ways to boost your wellbeing while staying indoors
Rethink – Managing your anxiety during coronavirus blog
Mental health UK – How to have an open conversation with young people about Covid-19
The Inter Agency Standard Committee (IASC) have published a book titled 'My Hero is You, Storybook for Children on COVID-19'. The book has been co-produced with children, parents and teachers from across the globe and is available in a wide range of languages. Go to the IASC website to read the story .
Relax Kids have created a Free Calm Pack which has activities that help to reduce anxiety in children and families.
Music, Art and Drama Resources
Chichester Festival Theatre have made their Arts Award remote so it can be done from home! Take challenges, get inspired and share skills with others to create a portfolio. Access is free but if you would like your portfolio moderated/ assessed a cost is involved.
Out of the Ark Music have some great sing along songs to fill the day with some music!
Educational Resources
BBC Bitesize has a range of resources and revision exercises for all age ranges and abilities, they will also be sharing new content on a regular basis in response to the Coronavirus. They will also begin hosting online lessons from Monday 20th April.
Oak National Academy - Created by teachers, this government-backed new national online school provides video lessons, worksheets and quizzes related to many subjects.
The SchoolRun.com - Over 250,000 parents are already getting free worksheets, activities and offers from the SchoolRun.com. You can personalise the information to match the school year of your child, from nursery age onwards.
Classroom Secrets - This resource hub is providing free, fun, practical and interactive learning resources for children to aid parents in this difficult time. The activities on offer come in the form of interactive games, video tutorials and downloadable home learning packs.
Twinkl - Twinkl’s home learning hub offers daily activities for primary-age children. While lockdown continues and children aren’t yet going back to school, getting new ideas for entertaining and educating your young children every day can be a blessing.
BBC Teach – Live lessons - You don’t have to recreate school at home. However, the live lessons on BBC Teach can help you and your child if you are looking for a way to add a bit of routine into their day. Their activities are suitable for children aged 3-16. These pre-made classes are all run by qualified teachers.
The Maths Factor - The tagline for this resource is… “Let Carol Vorderman teach your child maths during this difficult period.” Now you know your child is in safe hands when it comes to topping up their maths understanding! This site featuring Carol Vorderman’s video classes for kids is free to join, and its activities – which are suitable for 4-12 years – are matched to the National Curriculum.
Explorify - Are you ready to enhance your science teaching and get your children thinking like scientists? Explorify, the offering from Welcome, is full of free lessons and activities with a focus on learning science at home.
Young Professional skills building - Our skills building programme is more for children and young adults aged 14 and up, and it won’t supplant your home learning. But if you want your older children to start thinking about careers and building their life and work skills, you can ask them to sign up to our Young Professional training. It’s entirely free, and your child will get a weekly newsletter full of skills-building tips and opportunities to help them be the best they can be.
Chatter Pack have developed a free list of resources to help with speech and language teaching at home.
Vocabulary Ninja has free resources to help with learning vocabulary.
Teaglo have lots of free resources available to help parents teach primary school aged children.
Barrington Stoke have gathered all their free reading resources into one place. They have colouring sheets, reading guides and run a Young Editors Scheme.
World Book have released free resources and e-books during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a wealth of eBooks and activities available! You must create an account to access the resources.
Country Living have gathered 12 live webcam feeds of a variety of animals from Pandas to Sheep. Or go to Earth Cam to search for webcams across the planet .
The British Dyslexia Association has guidance on helping a child with dyslexia to learn, spell, write and read as well as some resources to help with this.
Twinkl develops resources for teachers to use in their lessons across age ranges and abilities. They are a subscription service but they are currently offering free resources packs to help with teaching at home.
Other Resources and Activities
Parentkind Parentkind is full of clear, usable advice for parents during lockdown. It includes useful stuff like what to expect from your kids, and how (and why) to make the clear distinction between home-schooling and supporting learning. They also offer tips on how to create a good learning environment for children of all ages. For example: If your child is at secondary school, they recommend you don’t watch over your child to keep them focused. Instead, you can start the day with a conversation about the work to be done, and agree regular time slots for study.
SEND Cast have a selection on podcasts available to listen to SEND education. They are mainly aimed at those who work in education, which right now many parents are so there may be some useful information within them that can be accessed by listening which some may prefer. Go to their website to listen to a podcast.
Neath Port Talbot Educational Psychology Service have produced a 65 page pdf document titled 'Supporting Children with Neurodiverse Conditions at Home' .
NHS England Specialised AAC and EC Services have collected resources that are available that might be useful at this time to support communication, for patients in acute care through to those in the community. These resources are primarily aimed to be used by professionals and can be found on the Assitive Technologhy Website .
The North West Regional SEND Network have created their own list of resources and activities in their newsletter .
Extratime who are based in Brighton have launched a new website and have also gathered lots of good activities and resources to help make learning at home easier. Go to their [email protected] page to view these resources. They also have a YouTube channel where you can join some of their staff in doing activities.
Wellspring West Sussex have also gathered a range of different ideas, links, exercises and more. Go to their website to find out more .
The SEND Group have a range of training available in regards to educating people with SEND, this is a subscription service that requires a monthly payment and is mainly aimed at teachers of those with SEND.