Google Meet letter for Home Learners

Monday 25 January 2021

Google Meet for Home Learners

Dear Parents

We are delighted to inform you that we will be commencing face-to-face contact with the children (from this week) using Google Meet. This comes as part of our G Suite for Education package and the children will be able to join the meetings using their@ranvillesjuniorschool.co.uk accounts (which they should now all be using). Children will not be able to enter the meeting using a different account.
Attached at the end of this letter are the protocols we have put in place for the use of Google Meet. Please take the time to read these carefully and to share them with your child to ensure they understand what is expected of them when they attend.
Class teachers will identify Google Meet sessions on their weekly timetable. They will conduct these sessions with small groups of children at a time and you will be informed when your child is invited to join their group online. Five minutes before the meet is due to commence, the teacher will publish a ‘nickname’ link to the meeting. You simply click on the link to join. Further guidance documents will be uploaded to Google Classroom very soon.

The teachers and staff are very much looking forward to facilitating face-to-face contact for the children. Please be patient and forgiving on the first few attempts as all involved get used to the technology – this is not how teachers trained to teach, but they are doing their very best to learn the new technology for the benefit of the children and they are really looking forward to seeing them again.

Further ‘User Agreements’ will be sent out for the children over the next couple of weeks as we update them in line with the new platforms being used. When these are released, please take time to share them with your child and ensure that a copy is signed and returned to the school.
Thank you, as always, for your support of the school at this difficult time. If you do have any technology issues, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do my very best to help. Please scroll down to read the protocols for using Google Meet.

Take care and stay safe.
Best wishes

Mrs Johnson

Deputy Headteacher

Ranvilles Junior School Protocols for Using Google Meet

Ranvilles Junior School will be using Google Meet as its method of providing face-to-face contact. It will allow teachers and staff to make face-to-face contact with the children learning remotely at home.

The purposes for Google Meet calls can be:

• Providing face to face contact with as many children as possible
• Giving children the opportunity to collaborate with their teacher and peers on a specific learning task – to discuss and debate
• Checking in on children’s learning and/or wellbeing
• Creating an opportunity to share and celebrate children’s achievements in their learning
• Google Meet may also be used for activities such as sharing stories, leading assemblies and conducting short teaching inputs with small groups.
• All Google Meets will be supervised by a teacher with a specific learning / focus. They are not simply opened for children to chat.
  PLEASE NOTE: Google Meets are for children in the class only, not adults or other siblings. When participants are accepted into a Google Meet there are specific protocols they must follow. These protocols exist to support safeguarding and to help to ensure all participants understand how to stay safe and what to expect.
  Children:
  Children are asked to:
• Arrive on time to the meeting and leave promptly at the end of the session.
• Mute themselves on entry to the classroom. This is important because background noise can disturb the stream. The teacher will advise children when to unmute so they can engage with their peers.
• Dress appropriately for the meeting, as should all members of their household. Clothes equivalent to a non-uniform day are advised – no pyjamas.
• Attend the meet in a quiet space where they will not be disturbed by siblings, animals etc. This should be in a shared part of the house, not a bedroom. The children should blur their backgrounds if possible – if not, they should position themselves in front of a plain background.
• Must speak and interact politely and respectfully using appropriate language.
• Listen carefully when the teacher / their peer is speaking and play an active part in the session.
• Must not share content on their screen unless the teacher has approved it and given permission. No writing on documents shared on a Google Meet unless requested to by the teacher.
• Use the chat function in the Meet appropriately – this is an opportunity to collaborate for a specific reason, not to ‘chat’. The teacher may disable this function before or during a meet.
• Must not record, capture or screen grab any part of the meeting – this is for safeguarding and GDPR purposes.

Parents/Guardians:
Please support us by:

• Supporting your child to set up the Google Meet on their device using the link provided in the Class Stream on Google Classroom.
• Teaching your child how to enter and leave a meeting, mute themselves, blur the screen and turn their camera on/off – see support guides provided by the school to help.
• Ensuring that other family members are not visible in the meetings and that they do not contribute – we ask that you leave your child in a quiet space to interact with the meet independently.
• Ensuring that your child is appropriately dressed for the meeting – no pyjamas!
• Discussing appropriate behaviour in an online meeting with your child – in the same way as if they were in school with a member of staff. If a child does behave inappropriately and does not respond to the teachers instructions, they will be asked to leave the meeting. The teacher will contact the parent following the meeting to discuss the matter of concern.
• Advise the teacher in advance if their child cannot attend the meeting scheduled for them for any reason.

Not filming or recording the meeting in any way, including screen shots – this is a safeguarding and GDPR issue. PARENTS/GUARDIANS UNDERSTAND THAT TEACHERS WILL RECORD THE MEETINGS FOR SAFEGUARDING PURPOSES AND THAT BY ALLOWING THEIR CHILD TO JOIN THE MEETING THEY GIVE CONSENT FOR THIS.

Teachers:

To ensure the safe and effective running of a Google Meet, teachers will:

• Release the ‘nickname’ link to the Google Meet on the Google Classroom Class Stream for specific children 5 minutes prior to the meet commencing. Using a ‘nickname’ means that children cannot enter the meet without the teacher being present and the teacher can end the meeting for all participants at the right time.
• Not allow attendees to join the meet without being present, they will keep a list of attendees.
• Ensure attendees are muted on arrival to the meeting and that their backgrounds are appropriate and maintaining the child’s safety.
• Make expectations and meeting conduct clear at the start of every meeting.
• Position themselves in front of a neutral background and/or use a blurred screen. They will ensure no one else is in view of the camera.
• Dress appropriately for the meeting.
• Manage children’s behaviour throughout the meet and have the right to remove an individual if they do not follow the rules set out for the meeting.
• Ensure that the group size fits the purpose of the meeting and is manageable.
• Only set meetings within the school day.
• Record the meeting for safeguarding purposes. The recordings will not be shared with other people, unless for a safeguarding purpose. They will not take screenshots of the meeting.
• Teachers may advise children to mute and turn their cameras off on entry to some meetings when the specific purpose is to watch a teaching input. This is to avoid distractions for all involved.

Please appreciate these protocols are to ensure a successful meeting while keeping children safe. Safeguarding is a priority.