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Help for parents
If you need help finding your way around the site, or if you have specific queries about using the site, take a look at these frequently asked questions:
How do I get to my family's page once I have registered? You can get there automatically by clicking on "parents" in the bar along the top of your screen or on the big Spark Island logo in the top left hand corner. Everything's taking a long time to download. Why? We've made every effort possible to keep our download times as short as possible, but the first time you visit Spark Island, things may take a little while to download, particularly if you have a slow modem or if you are visiting at a time when many other people are using the internet. However, once you have visited the island once, your computer should keep a local copy of the island on your computer, making access considerably faster. Whilst the games can be played over any standard modem connection, we recommend that you have a broadband (ISDN2 at 128K or better) connection to the internet before visiting the different animated areas of the Island. There's no sound in some of the activities. Why? There is, deliberately, very little sound in the environments for 6-8 and 9-11 year olds (we've obviously used more for 3-5 year olds, as instructions need to be read out loud). You'll find effects in a couple of games, but the problem is one of bandwidth: if we put more sound in, the games would take a very long time to download. We're working to add more effects, but it's tricky to strike the right balance between sound and download speed. You should, however, find full instructions on how to play the games in the panel to the left-hand side of the screen for all of them. What do I get if subscribe, and how do I do it? Click here for full details. Using the site Do the activities line up with the National Curriculum? We have designed every activity in Spark Island specifically to meet one or more National Curriculum and Scottish Curriculum learning outcomes, and/or outcomes contained in the National Numeracy and Literacy Strategies, or in the Early Learning Goals. How long does it take to work through each activity? This depends from activity to activity. We've avoided setting a time limit on how long our activities should take. For more information on our approach to developing activities, see the Teachers' Editor's Note. Security questions How do I keep my children from wandering into other 'dodgy' sites? Spark Island does not provide your internet connection or internet browser, so we cannot absolutely guarantee that your children will not wander into dodgy sites. The organization that does provide your internet connection - known as your Internet Service Provider or ISP - may offer "filtering" services or software which are designed to prevent children seeing unsuitable material on the internet. You can also buy such software. For more information, advice for children, and a special offer on such software, see our safe surfing tips. What will Spark Island do with the information they request? All information you provide to Spark Island during the registration process will be kept confidential. We value each of customers and we work hard to protect your privacy. We do not, now and do not plan to in the future, to sell or rent information about our customers with other companies. When you register with Spark Island we request only the information that is necessary for your subscription and the ongoing optimisation of your visit. You can read our Privacy Policy by clicking here. Technical questions Will I need special software or programmes to read the activities and visit the Island? To read the activities and visit the island, you will need to have the Flash 6 plug-in installed. For more information on Flash, and to see if you have it installed, click here. You will not need any other special software to use the Spark Island site. I'm getting an 'ActiveX' error message and can't access the learning activities. What's going on and how do I resolve this? This is all to do with Internet Explorer Security Settings. Microsoft Internet Explorer contains a feature called Security Settings. This can prevent certain sorts of Web content from being shown on your computer. Depending on how Internet Explorer is set up on your computer, Security Settings might prevent you from using our learning games. You will know if this is happening because you will see an error message that says: 'An ActiveX control on this page is not safe. Your current security settings prohibit running unsafe controls on this page.' To stop it happening, you need to tell Internet Explorer to allow our learning games to be shown in your computer: you can do this by adding Spark Island to your list of Trusted Sites. Here's how:
What are the detailed technical requirements and recommendations? The site has been tested on Internet Explorer 4.5 and Netscape 4.x and above on both PC and Macintosh platforms, at 33.6kbps via a leading consumer ISP, with 800x600 screen resolution. The Flash 6 plug-in is required for all activities and to visit the island. No other plug-ins are needed. The site may work on Netscape 4.x for Linux, but this is not a supported browser. For homes, we recommend either:
Has your question not been answered? Email us at help@sparklearning.com |
