Meon Junior School’s successful switch to live and remote learning
They say ‘every day’s a school day’, and never has that been more profound! For parents in 2021 every day has been just that. Sara Paine, Headteacher of Meon Juniors shares how her school are thriving with live and remote learning.
“Moving lessons to live learning was nerve-wracking but we did it.
We do three live teaching sessions a day, plus one additional session three times a week – bringing our school community together in assembly.
Before the first day, I asked parents to please be patient, kind and understanding – and they delivered. My staff were terrified, from newly qualified through to teachers with 30 years’ experience, they were nervous; this is new, out of their comfort zone, and the parents’ messages lifted spirits.
Our biggest challenge has been technology and learning how to use it at such short notice. But, every day we – the teachers, parents and pupils – get better. Being part of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust (TSAT) has been a godsend, I feel that, as a group of schools, we’re moving forward together, overcoming the technological challenges and sharing good practice.
As with a school day, routine is vital, we share a timetable weekly, outlining all the remote learning and including timings for live lessons.
It works; our first day of remote learning, we saw 84% of our school logging on to live lessons and now a whopping 98% have been in live lessons, with 99% of our school engaged in the remote learning offer.
It’s a huge team effort, teachers and pupils too; we’re all in it together.
This approach works for us, though we are constantly reviewing, reflecting, and listening, to make changes where needed.
Portsmouth’s leaders are close knit, and we are all in this together working towards a common goal. As a city we’re a good bunch, collaborating and sharing what works.
Here at Meon Juniors we’re doing it this way, we took a chance and it’s paid off.”
What parents are saying:
“My two had a great day. It’s really appreciated, all the hard work that has gone into today and for the future weeks. Having this structure and communication has been fantastic!”
“Thank you for all your hard work to support the children, this IT stuff can’t be easy!”
“It was great that the children got to see their teacher and felt included and all the work was there for them to access”
“Thank you for all you and your staff are doing in such a crazy climate. The way you have switched to online learning, literally overnight is quite incredible”
“Firstly thank you for a brilliant day of home learning – It’s amazing how you’ve pulled it all together so quickly and seamlessly for the children. Thank you.”
