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Coronavirus: Covid-19 and school closures

Coronavirus has had an unprecedented effect on our educational system here in the UK, from people calling out for online resources to systems relying on parents to tutor their children. At epraise we don’t just work with schools in the UK, which got us wondering what schools in other parts of the world are doing…

Staff profile picture Team epraiseApril 2020 - 3 minute read

How can epraise help?

For epraise schools facing a closure because of Covid-19 we would like to provide a one-month free access period for our Homework and Messenger optional features. These will allow you to set work for students and communicate with them effectively.

Schools who don't use epraise

We would also like to extend this offer to schools that don't currently use epraise. This will include the epraise base subscription as well as our Homework and Messenger optional features and provides schools with most things they would need to run lessons remotely. Many schools combine epraise with Google Hangouts or Teams Meetings to allow for real-time communication. There is no tie-in and nothing to pay, but a member of SLT will need to approve your school's use of epraise. Places will be limited to ensure we can continue to provide the excellent support our customers have come to expect from us, with priority onboarding for schools we have previously spoken to.

Four iphones showing epraise being used

What is Messenger?

Epraise Messenger enables you to send and receive direct messages to/from an individual, several individuals or groups (such as classes, tutor groups and year groups). It is perfect for keeping in touch with parents during times such as school closures. With Messenger you'll also have access to Forms, which can be used for a variety of things, such as gaining consent from parents or even to test children' understanding of a topic.

What is Homework?

The Homework feature allows content to be scheduled and shared with students and parents via attachments or links to online resources and can be accessed via a range of devices. We also provide schools with statistics so that school leaders can monitor and analyse homework for individuals and across key groups.

Managing attendance

Schools using SIMS writeback in epraise can continue to mark attendance as usual. Schools we have spoken to use the educated offsite [B] code, where lessons will be taken online via epraise, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams or similar software, although official guidance isn't yet published. Where the school is not closed but a child is absent because of Covid-19, the [I],[Y] and [O] codes should be used. For schools who do not access the attendance registers within epraise, and cannot remotely connect to their MIS, epraise Marksheets (part of the epraise base subscription) or Homework can be used to keep track of attendance. Note that SIMS does not allow the writeback of [Y] codes which should be done centrally.

Managing assessment

It is unclear if there will be any major disruption to exams at this stage, however there is some guidance below should this happen. In the meantime, classroom assessments can continue to be completed using epraise Marksheets as usual in conjunction with Google Classroom/Hangouts or Microsoft Teams for work submissions.

Other useful resources

We aim to keep this page up to date and will continue adding information and resources as they become available. If you have a suggestion, please let us know.

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