Parental engagement made easy

With Father's Day just around the corner what better time to talk about parental engagement with DB Primary?

One of the keys to successful parental engagement is involving parents in the roll-out of the platform. We have a number of examples of letters home which schools might like to use in order to introduce the platform and address the wider concept of e-safety.

It's common for parents to have some initial trepidation about how their child will be using the platform, and what they will be using it for. Consequently, it can be useful to lay down an e-safety contract which pupils can agree to, addressing points such as not using 'text-speak', only logging in during specified hours and reporting any instances of inappropriate content. We can provide customers with examples of contracts to use, and are happy to discuss any concerns that pupils' parents might have – and common points which parents raise can include how children's images will be used on the platform, who can view their child's homepage and account, and how pupils' platform use can be monitored.

DB Primary has a number of great features which ensures safe interaction online. These include Safemail, a profanity filter, email monitor, record of chat conversations, inappropriate content reporting system and teacher-moderated areas. Parents can also be assured, that by using their parent account, they can monitor their child's work, contact teachers directly, and if enabled by the school, the ability to monitor their child's sent and received emails.

There is a lot of evidence to show that parental engagement improves pupil attainment and also boosts home-school communication. Are your pupils' parents engaged with their child's classwork? If not, then now's the time to create parent accounts! Contact our support team for more information or some advice on how to roll out DB Primary to parents within your school community.

Help young learners love literacy!

There has been a lot of discussion in the media lately about children's literacy levels and reading ability, and as always, your friendly neighbourhood learning platform is here to help!

So how can DB Primary help pupils improve their reading skills?

• Teachers can create pupil Learning Logs to act as reading records - allowing parents and pupils to easily see and comment on individual progress, next steps and learning outcomes
• The DB team can help schools create reading and literacy communities, promoting use of free e-books through sites such as Oxford Owls, as well as providing staff with access to a wealth of English and literacy resources
• Pupils can use the recording tool to record videos of themselves reading work they have written - improving their communication and reading skills
• DB Primary is integrated with Widgit reading accessibility tools Widgit Insite and Widgit Point, which can be used to help pupils of all ages and ability improve their reading skills
• Pupils and staff can use the forum to discuss their favourite stories and books, and use the drawing tool to create pictures to accompany the stories they read and hear in the classroom
• The forum can also be used to create a collaborate story, which pupils can write and read together
• Schools can create virtual book clubs, encouraging pupils to take part in lively discussions about their favourite books, authors, and characters - with photos of children dressing up as their favourite characters on World Book Day!

We would love to hear any other suggestions about ways to use DB Primary for improving reading attainment and getting pupils excited about literacy – anyone can contact us on Twitter with ideas!