Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Primary parents and pupils
Welcome to Oak National Academy. We hope these questions and answers will help you make the most of Oak’s free online classroom.
Oak National Academy is an online classroom with free, high-quality video lessons and resources. It’s free for you to use and has been created by over 80 teachers, with the backing of the Government. It’s designed to help schools and parents balance learning at home.
Lessons in primary cover Reception to Year 6, with lessons in English and maths, plus history, geography, art and languages. Each day there are at least three hours of lessons. There is also a specialist curriculum for those pupils with additional needs.
You can access Oak at www.thenational.academy. It’s easy to get on through a phone, tablet or laptop. You can use Oak on more than one device at the same time, which is great if you have children of different ages learning together.
You don’t need a login or password for Oak. You can simply go to the website and, depending on what your teacher has recommended for your child, start the lessons straight away. The website doesn’t collect your personal information, so you and your children’s data is safe.
Each lesson is a pre-recorded video with a teacher who takes your child through each section step-by-step. The level of your supervision has been designed to be minimal, although that will depend on the age of your child. Each lesson can be paused and rewound to help pupils learn at their own pace.
Each of Oak’s lessons is an hour-long and is delivered over by a video on the website. The lessons include quizzes, worksheets and creative activities to engage your child. The videos are pre-recorded so there’s no other children in your child’s session.
As the lessons are pre-recorded, they are available any time, so you can choose when your children go online to help you balance your daily routine. Each lesson follows a sequence which builds on previous lessons, but they are also stand alone so you don’t need to start from the beginning. Your child’s school will guide you on how to use the lessons.
Your school will advise you on using Oak. You might be asked to follow the ‘schedule’ in the Oak classroom - this provides a plan of lessons for your child to follow each day, across a range of subjects. This is a bit like a daily timetable.
Alternatively you might be asked to complete specific lessons in certain subjects. These are accessed by clicking ‘subject’ in the Oak classroom.
Visit www.thenational-academy and then click ‘classroom’. You’ll then find three options:
Specialist: to take you to the specialist resources for those with additional needs
Subject: which first asks your year group, and then offers you lessons just in specific subjects (e.g. if you just wanted to do maths lessons)
Schedule: which first asks your year group, and then offers a schedule of lessons, giving you a daily timetable across different subjects
Each lesson is very clear about what you need at the start. For most, there’s minimal additional material, usually just a pen and some paper.
Your child’s teacher will advise whether they wish to see your child’s work on Oak, and they will also advise how best to share work safely.
Oak will provide new lessons and resources each week until schools fully re-open, at the very least.
Oak Activity Club will be available over half term with a range of activities for children and families, including cook-a-longs, debating and arts from some brilliant partner organisations.
Each Thursday at 10am Oak also holds an online assembly. These provide opportunities to hear from some inspirational guest speakers, including the first British astronaut, the cast of the Lion King and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
For more information please visit the Oak National Academy website: https://www.thenational.academy/information-for-parents-pupils