Some schools are injecting a bit of old-fashioned fun into a curriculum increasingly dominated by computer-based learning.

Abbotsford Public School is literally wrapping its students in learning with a school badge challenge with a difference.

During remote learning, children undertook activities from active learning packs designed by their teachers. The school felt it was important to acknowledge the fabulous parent/school partnership, which was being undertaken to support students continuing their learning and created a list of tasks that all students could complete at home.

The students at the Sydney primary school are awarded achievement badges each time they complete one of the tasks in the challenge. With their parents’ help, the children iron the badges onto school blankets.

The initial idea behind the challenge was to foster partnerships between teachers, and students and their families during the remote learning period. During a complex period in parents’ lives, the school wanted to support parents’ in acknowledging that activities being undertaken in the home were important in helping to develop the social/emotional needs of their child.

The challenge includes 20 tasks, such as building with Lego, caring for a pet, gardening or learning about astronomy.

The tasks range in complexity, allowing all children from Kindergarten to Year 6 to become involved. They are completed at home with support from parents.

Parents report enjoying helping their children learn about the world, and are pleased that not all of the curriculum is tied to computer learning, with their children spending time outside, for example, to earn a ‘bird watching’ badge, or helping in the kitchen to earn a 'cooking up a storm' badge.

Abbotsford Public School students now have a memento of their remote learning that will help them reflect on what school looked like and how they stayed connected with their peers and their teachers during the remote learning period.