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DB Primary offers many tools and features that can help support your teachers in the event of a school closure. Because DB Primary is all web-based it means it can be accessed from anywhere with just a web browser and internet connection.

Pupil login details

The first step is to make sure your pupils know their login details. For the children to be able to log in they must know their username, password and URL to follow to take them to your school’s personal log in screen- this information is all available on the children’s passports. Print the children’s passports (which show their login details) by following these instructions:

  • Enter the admin area from the DB teacher homepage
  • Open up the pupil accounts folder
  • Click [actions] next to the class
  • Click ‘Show passports’ from the dropdown menu
passports for me to use

Learning Library

The Learning Library is full of great pre-made activities you can assign to your class to complete from home. These activities cover a range of different subject areas and topics and can be set as individual tasks, or as part of a Pathway. Any activity which has right or wrong answers will be automatically marked for you (saving you precious time), and all the scores will be put into a table for you in your class management area of the Learning Library. You will be able to see who has completed each task and how well they did.

Assigning Activities

When viewing details for a chosen activity, assign to the whole class by clicking on the 'Assign to Class' button down the left-hand side. Alternatively, use the button drop-down menu to select individual pupils from your class.

Once assigned, click on "Enable Pupil Retakes" to allow your pupils to complete an activity multiple times. 

Create your own activity

If you can’t find an activity to suit your needs, the Learning Library offers you the ability to build your own activities such as spelling tests, quizzes, crosswords and sorting activities. These are also self-marked and will show the children’s scores on the teacher markbook.

shapes quiz- create own

Scheduling

Assigned activities will start immediately with the due date set to seven days. This schedule can be changed by clicking on '7 days' in the orange bar which appears along the top of the screen when you’ve assigned an activity. Specify your own start and due dates.

The schedule can be changed at any time in 'Tasks' area of the Learning Library. Each task in the list will have a cog on the right-hand side which will reveal a menu of task options.

Managing Tasks and Viewing Progress

Manage your tasks and view pupil progress in the "Tasks" area found under the "Class" menu drop down. Here you can track, manage and assess the tasks you have set.

Pathways

Learning Library activities can be placed into pathway sequences. Once a pathway has been created it can be assigned to pupils to complete. Pupils can only complete one activity at a time and in the sequence you have set.

Enter the Learning Library and select ‘Pathways’ tab from along the top. Here you have the option to create new pathways, download pre-made pathway templates, or edit previously made pathways.

Just like with individual tasks, the schedule can be changed by clicking on '7 days' in the orange bar which appears along the top of the screen when you’ve assigned the pathway. Specify your own start and due dates. If you want to control how soon a pupil can move onto the next activity in the pathway, tick the 'Pathway intervals?' option.

pathway(1)

DB Tasks

The Learning Library is full of a huge range of fantastic ready-made, self-marking resources that you can assign to the children in your class. However, you may wish to set more detailed or personalised tasks for your pupils to complete. These tasks can be set from your community page menu or your ‘My Class’ tile on your teacher homepage (by clicking the clock icon). The different types of tasks you can set include:

- Writing a document where pupils use DB Primary’s document tool to create and submit written work (a copy of which is then saved in their ‘My Work’ folder)
- Painting a picture using DB Primary’s paint tool to create and submit digital paint work (lovely for the younger pupils in the school)
- Writing a blog entry on their homepage
- Requesting the pupils to create a new forum or answer an existing forum topic  
- Contributing to the community wiki page using a collaboration area
- Uploading a file (pupils must upload a file to complete the task, e.g. Word, Publisher, PDF documents)
- Answering a survey that you have created

When you set the task, you can also include instructions and add any resources the pupils may find helpful.

task(1)

DB Class Community pages

Your Community Page is like an online classroom. The members of your class can access this page to contribute ideas, complete surveys, access the Learning Library, take part in forum discussions, publish blog entries and communicate with each other. During a closure these class communities are especially important as it provides a place where the teachers can communicate in a variety of ways with the children in their class. Used properly it can be used as a remote classroom, where the children can log on and access tasks to complete, forum topics for discussion, uploaded documents to help learning, external links to educational sites their teachers want them to visit and much more!

Your community page is a great place to share information about your current topic and any other learning you are doing. You can set up multiple pages by clicking the ‘+ Create New Page’ tab and this allows you to have one page for your topic and others for Literacy, Numeracy, Science, etc.

To design your community page just click the pencil icon in the top right corner which appears when you hover over the community page. You can then add content, documents, images, videos and MP3s to the page.

community page1

Forum

The forum tool is the ultimate collaborative tool within DB Primary. Forums can be used in a large range of creative ways to share and discuss topic knowledge, write stories, conduct character interviews, and debate PSHE ideas and wider school issues.

Each DB Primary community has its own dedicated forum area. The forum works like an online message board, providing members with a secure area for ideas and views to be discussed. 

You can choose the level of moderation you would like to apply to the forum, giving you complete control over what can and cannot be posted without first being moderated by the teacher.

forum(2)

Personal and community blogs

The DB blog feature is the perfect tool for writing! Whilst school is closed, ask the children to write an entry in their personal blog every day about what they have been doing and more importantly, what they have been learning!

The children can also visit each other’s blogs (if you have the ‘members’ option available on your community menu) and leave each other comments. Blog posts and comments are all fully integrated with DB Primary’s profanity filter and the use of any blocked word will stop the post or comment being published.

blog entry(1)

Email

The email feature within DB Primary can be used to send emails to your pupils. Whilst you are off, send them daily emails to let them know what tasks you would like them to complete that day. Safemail is turned on as default on all pupil accounts to ensure pupils can only communicate with other pupils in their class. Pupils will only be able to send and receive emails from internal DB email addresses, meaning you can stay in contact with your pupils in a safe and secure way!

Additional help and guidance

If you would like any further help setting up your DB Primary please contact our support team on support@neweraed.co.uk.

Additionally, extra support and guidance can be found by clicking the ‘Help Centre’ icon in the quick links tile found on the teacher homepage.

help centre icon
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