Forces parents watch nativity online

By Hannah Richardson
Education reporter, BBC News

Dave can keep an eye on his children's progress at school from HMS Lancaster

If your day job is patrolling the oceans looking for Somali pirates, attending your children's Christmas play is simply not an option.

So one school near naval stronghold Portsmouth took the decision to broadcast its nativity play over the internet to parents serving overseas.

Horndean Infants School in Waterlooville is one of thousands of England's schools to use technology to help parents keep in touch.

The school's learning platform has come in particularly useful for chief petty officer Dave Buckley and his family this Christmas.

Dave is serving an eight month stint on HMS Lancaster, protecting the shipping lanes around the horn of Africa from the threat of piracy.

Missing out how your family is getting on is a huge factor Chief Petty Officer Dave Buckley

His wife Sam says his absence at Christmas time is particularly difficult for her and their two children, Chloe, six, and Adam, four, to deal with.

She says: "I do find the whole thing hard. Having children and being married is all about being together as a family at Christmas.

"It is my favourite time of year and it's also the hardest time to be alone, and not to feel that you can share Christmas with him is really hard."

Dave says it's never good being away from home especially with young children.

The school's nativity play can be uploaded on the internet

"It hits you really hard on the day you sail for a long deployment in excess of six months and takes a while to settle into a routine.

"Missing out on how your family is getting on is a huge factor. At least the learning platform is another way of keeping track.

"Things have got better and better since I joined the Royal Navy due to advances in technology.

"We have e-mail and phone facilities onboard now, something I never had for my first 16 years in the Navy and more recently internet services have been provided."

Special events

He says being able to stay in touch, at the touch of a mouse or keypad, is a lot better than waiting 40 days to get mail, but it is always a huge event when sailors get to open hand-drawn Christmas cards from their children.

The school's new learning platform, supported by government technology agency Becta, does a lot more than an interactive email.

It acts as an information network for the school where the children's work is stored alongside messages and videos of special events.

Not only can content from the learning platform be placed up on the interactive white board, but each family can access the site and add their comments.

So sometimes a message pops up from Dave on HMS Lancaster.

For those who can't be there, watching it online is the next best thing

"This has allowed children and their parents to ask me questions about being on HMS Lancaster whilst on deployment.

"As well as answering their questions I also send pictures to be loaded onto the site so they can see what I get up to," he says.

'Freezing'

Deputy head teacher Jacqueline Ralphson says the learning platform has made a great difference to the school.

"Those parents who cannot come into school for a variety of reasons are now able to see exactly what's going on in school from maths lessons to performances."

The Buckleys say Christmas is all about families being together

Dave says one thing the learning platform cannot compensate for is the whole build-up to the festive season.

"A big thing which we miss is the run up to Christmas, the atmosphere of the Christmas Festivities, the parties, the last minute panic buying etc.

"The only thing we do not miss is the weather."