Dear Parents,

Following on from last week, I have continued the theme of technology with Canvas and the safe use of technology with E-Safety. Below, I have included some updates and useful information about the use and development of Canvas (Our Online Learning System) and how we approach E-Safety at the British International School of Ljubljana.

Online Learning and Canvas

Our online learning platform is CANVAS, which will continue to be used in the future, even when students arrive back at school. Accessing work, discussions and projects from home due to several reasons are important for students to have an option to participate in. Having one common LMS (Learning Management System) is important to the school and is integral to our School Development Plan. This makes it easier for students in the long-term, having familiarity with one platform to use and makes online learning more accessible.

This platform can be accessed by the students from a range of devices and therefore they can access any learning material from the classroom.

All courses will be moved to Canvas this block and students in Primary and Secondary will be able to login to a Homepage and select the classes and courses to access. Many of these are already live and have been used frequently over the past 5 weeks. This has been a phased changeover to help everyone move to the same learning platform. A phased changeover was used to help support sections of the school during this process with training, creation of courses and development of files/resources for each of the classes.

Primary Canvas Homepage

This is what our Primary Canvas Homepage looks like.

Secondary Canvas Homepage

This is what our Secondary Canvas Homepage looks like.

If students need to access to work that they miss at school, Canvas can be used to download and complete classwork, consolidate understanding of topics covered and also for students to be challenged and stretch themselves further in subjects they show a passion for.

Canvas is a password protected area for students to work safely and securely in a productive environment. This is an important part of our school Teaching and Learning approach as it facilitates and encourages personalised learning for students to learn at the speed they feel comfortable with. As mentioned above, this enables teachers to offer both support and challenge for all students across the subjects.

Parents and Students can access our full curriculum online here, including overviews, books and links to websites and resources. This is readily available on our website and is open information for everyone in the community to access.

E-Safety

This is an area that we have developed considerably with the help of our students, staff and parents at school. The full E-Safety guidance, information and previous presentations, can be found here.

On our E-Safety page you will find:

  • An overview of E-Safety
  • Guidance for reporting incidents
  • Examples of displays and information around the school
  • Assembly information
  • Age restrictions for social media (This is displayed in school)
  • Articles
  • E-safety Websites, Apps, Videos, tips for parents
  • Use of Devices
  • International Celebration Days
  • Previous Presentations delivered by staff for parents
  • Information on how to use Zoom

At school, we promote E-Safety throughout many areas to our students and these can be delivered in a range of formats. Around the school we have information on each floor of the building, signposting guidance and support for E-Safety, as well as our designated safeguarding team, led by Mrs Železinger.

Our E-Safety provision is constantly reviewed and updated through the policies that we have in place for our school with our BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), Online Learning Policy and Acceptable use of ICT policies, available in the School Life/Key Documents section on our website.

E-Safety can be discussed with students, including but not limited to:

  1. Lessons
  2. Assemblies
  3. Tutor/Form Time
  4. PSHE lessons
  5. On Canvas
  6. Computer Science Lessons
  7. International Awareness Days (Safer Internet day, anti-bullying day etc.)

I hope you have found this update and the images/examples of our online learning useful as it is important to show the journey we have taken together with our online learning platform and our students learning at home. Students should be both safe and excited in their learning environment. With your ongoing help, feedback and support, we can improve and further develop our excellent provision over time.

Previous updates:

  1. Friday 13th March – Frequently Asked Questions.
  2. Monday 30th March – The Block Break Plan for the 2 Week Evaluation and Key Communication from the School.
  3. Friday 10th April - The Five Improvement Areas created during the block break after the first two weeks of Online Learning.
  4. Friday 17th April – The FAQs, current processes and the looking ahead for our school.
  5. Friday 24th April – Successes and Challenges of Online Learning.
  6. Friday 1st May – Using Canvas and E-Safety.

Stay safe and take care.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal