Headteacher's tips for home schooling your children during the coronavirus outbreak
Schools across the UK have closed to the majority of pupils for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Many schools have sent work home and there are lots of online resources available too.
But where do you start?
We asked Caroline Newman, the headteacher at Gladstone Primary School in Barry for her advice.
Here are her top tips...
1. Set some kind of routine
"Number one would have to be set some kind of routine. I don't mean academic learning routine, I mean some kind of living routine as to what time you get up in the morning, what time you stop and have a snack.
"Remember your children are used to playtimes and they are used to routine, so set yourself some kind of routine. That could be a lovely thing to do with the children, make it visual, stick it up on the fridge and enjoy it."
2. Keep activities simple
"Keep activities simple. You're not there to try and make your children progress their learning, you're there to try and keep their learning ticking over, their literacy and numeracy skills ticking over.
"So keep it simple, keep it enjoyable, otherwise you're going to find yourself stressing out more than the children."
3. Use the resources available to you
"There are so many resources on the internet, use the guidelines that your school have sent you. Use the interactive resources that your school have sent you, use the website, make it easy for yourself and make it enjoyable."
4. Use what's in your house
"Get the photographs out, talk to your children about yourself when you were a child, talk to them about what it was like when they were younger, get them to help you cook. Get them to help you do the washing. Get them to help you clean. Get them to learn life skills and actually enjoy being with your children and just spending time together in the house."
5. Try not to worry or stress
"Please don't worry, we're not expecting your children to come back to school having made loads and loads of progress.
"What we want you to do is to actually enjoy this time with them, make the most of this time that you have with them, because hopefully you may look back at this and think that it was a really enjoyable time that you spent with your children, in your home, learning alongside them."