I’ve just come back from my son’s school having attended a meeting about Fronter, which is the school’s Virtual Learning Platform (VLP). Already rolled out in thousands of schools across the UK our school goes live properly on Monday.
Every child will have their own password and username, and their own “section” ie Reception, Year 1 etc and the information within each section so far looks great. Obviously there isn’t a huge amount of content yet but so far it ranges from website links to approved pages for work the class are currently tackling, to homework, maths and literacy help, news and more. There is also a social element to it where children can use stickies to leave messages. In additional to this work will be uploaded ie a particularly good poem or picture so a kind of portfolio will be there for us as parents to see and for the children to have as a record.
Everything is strictly monitored by the teachers/staff and children have already been made aware of the consequences of abusing the system.
I am ridiculously excited, sad mare that I am! Kieran is in Reception, so he will “grow” with the platform as it grows. He will be able to navigate a growing network of information, network with other children safely, show ME and Daddy what he is working on and what he is doing next…. the possibilities are endless.
There is also a parent section in which key information is available, forms will be downloadable (ie holiday requests etc), and a parent forum where we can discuss/organise etc anything we as parents wish to discuss with others.
Don’t get me wrong – I strongly believe that young children should be playing outside in mud, scraping their knees, tearing clothes, getting into “mild” mischief and overall just being children, not stuck in front of a computer. That said, IT is not going away – it has affected the way everything is run, from services to schools and the influence IT has on our children’s lives will be immense, regardless of what they choose to do workwise. I think it’s great that our children are being taught e-safety now, responsibility for their own actions (ie when posting messages), and great IT skills so early.
There was a lot of grumbling about lost passwords, swapped passwords, this and that but by and large the parents were very supportive and I look forward to seeing how the VLP pans out.
Does your school have a virtual learning platform, and if so , what do your kids think of it, how do you find it?