We first met Mere Brow back in August 2020, with their presence becoming more known during lockdown in January 2021. Jess Rowe, Assistant Head, has introduced the school to Natterhub with such passion that classes are now using multiple Natterhub lessons each week. Mere Brow's feedback and development suggestions have been invaluable and we are proud to have them as part of the Natterhub community.

Tell us about your experience of using the Natterhub lessons...

We think the lessons are great! We love the different topics and badges that are covered at Natterhub; in addition we like how the badges are split into these topics and that there are four sessions per badge making this easy to manage. 

At Mere Brow we’ve split three badges across the term so that these can fit easily into our timetable.  We do teach these lessons as stand alone as; Computing/ RSE lessons and there is no pressure on the ‘time length’ - it’s directed by the teacher on how long they feel should be spent on each session. At our school, Natterhub lessons are taught on a weekly basis. 

In particular, we like how challenging the Year 5 and 6 lessons are for these year groups as it gets the children (and teachers) to think and gives them more of an understanding about keeping themselves safe online and the impact of what’s said online too.  These lessons have been supportive for our teaching staff as it’s helped them to understand the coverage that is now required.

How have you found using the platform so far?

The platform is really easy to use and navigate. Natterhub is really accessible for the children and they’ve really enjoyed using the feed and platform, both in lessons and in independent learning  - the children love the different emojis and sending these to each other. 

We like how inclusive Natterhub is; all our children are able to take part in the lessons and enjoy the Natterhub and Natterled lessons. In particular, the children have enjoyed the interactivity and activities with the Natterled lessons. What we’ve liked about the platform is we can pick and choose the lessons to suit the ability of our children too.

How does the assessment system (The Badges of Honour) aid your teaching and learning?

As mentioned, we split three badges per term and fit these into our timetable as the computing and RSE lessons and we use these sessions to teach our online safety.  We like how these badges are split into the various sections/ topics and it’s helped us to see the coverage for each area. 

We like the range of activities and the polls for these lessons, so that the children can articulate and share their understanding and learning.  The children have liked the fact that the teachers can get involved and vote in these polls too.

How did Natterhub support you and your pupils during the lockdown?

We used Natterhub to share the Natterhub lessons as normal with the children so the children could follow at home (or in school) on their devices and it was great to be able to use the comment functionality on the feed, so that the children still felt connected to each other.  We like how you can freeze the screen while the children are using the feed, for example, when we wanted to refocus them for the Natterhub lesson. It was a great tool for the children to communicate with each other and a reminder to them ‘to remember to be kind’ when commenting to each other.  The children really enjoyed talking with each other on the feed during this time.

What do your pupils say about Natterhub?

The children at Mere Brow love the emojis and ‘pinging’ these to each other. We love being able to comment during the lessons as well as have time to talk with each other on the news feed.  The children really enjoy the matching activities and interactivity of the platform.

And what do your colleagues think of Natterhub?

We’re happy with the support being offered by the Natterhub team.  There is a great range of activities and lessons and we like how these have been put into different topics and badges making it easier for us to timetable Natterhub into our teaching week.  All the children can access the lessons and enjoy using the platform.  It’s been a great learning tool to help support us and our children’s understanding about how to keep themselves safe online.

Our approach of ‘experiential learning’ is different from other online safety provision. What, in your experience, is the impact of this approach?

We feel Natterhub has helped us to teach the children the ‘understanding’ of why it’s important and raise awareness of the impact of what they say online.  We use Natterhub to help support our online safety lessons as well as RSE, so we’ve been able to embed these curriculum areas into purposeful and engaging learning in the classroom, by using the interactivity feed in a safe environment for the children to explore and learn.

How has Natterhub impacted your pupils' understanding of media literacy?

Our children have been able to engage in a safe place where they can socialise and chat with their friends.  It’s allowed the children to become confident users, create a better understanding on how to use digital platforms as well as keep themselves and others safe. As well as this, Natterhub has raised awareness and understanding of the importance of being kind and respectful digital citizens.