Cambridge Edition September 2020 - Web

EDUCAT ION

and pupils prepared for and adjusted to online learning really highlighted our ability to adapt – our dedicated teaching staff really went the extra mile to ensure that effective virtual learning and online lessons were up and running immediately,” says head of juniors, Matthew O’Reilly. Felsted School was also fleet of foot, quickly scaling up its online resources to create ‘Felsted at Home’, an extensive home-learning programme that covered academic subjects and co- curricular activities. It is reassuring to know that if lockdown were to happen again (something nobody wants), schools would be ready. And when, hopefully, things are back to normal – or as close to normal as it gets – technology will be playing a bigger role in school life than ever before. At St Mary’s School, teachers’ excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Teams means it will continue to be used, for example as the school’s homework tool, says Matthew O’Reilly. Meanwhile at St Faith’s, specialist teachers quickly adapted to live streaming, delivering lessons to up to six classrooms at the

for example, for setting and uploading homework. Come the pandemic and its use took a quantum leap forward as remote learning and virtual classrooms became the lifeline connecting home- based pupils and teachers. The original plan at Impington Village College had been to introduce Microsoft Teams for the next academic year. Then lockdown was announced, and everything changed. “What was planned to be a 20-hour programme of learning for staff over an 18-month period was delivered within a week,” says Victoria Hearn, who is extremely proud of her team’s hard work and dedication. “All of our staff were fantastic and worked extremely hard so that they could learn the new technology and, in turn, provide our students with the best possible educational experience during lockdown. This also included a huge virtual TeachMeet, attended by nearly 100 teachers across our trust, to share good practice.” Junior school teachers at St Mary’s School, Cambridge, also demonstrated just how fast change could take place. “The speed with which our teachers

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