Home Schooling: Bulletin 7
The governors met on Tuesday for our regular monthly meeting. We were very aware that we still don’t know the government’s plans for returning to schooling onsite, however one of the items on the agenda was to hear from Mr. Worsley and Mrs. Boulton regarding pupil engagement during lockdown. There has been much discussion in the media about the low level of pupil engagement in remote education, with average figures of 33% being quoted for state schools, and 66% for independent schools. We’ve been very encouraged by the way that the CFS staff have embraced developing new online learning consistent with our Christ-centred curriculum, as opposed to much of the generic off-the-shelf lessons that are available. This has meant that the pupils have been able to continue with the CFS curriculum, and for their learning to keep them on target in terms of progress.
It's been very exciting to hear about a pre-recorded Worship Assembly and The Merchant of Venice lesson, some lessons by videoconferencing, one-to-one sessions for additional support, as well as multiple work packages and some very interesting research projects. In Lower School the approach has been more age appropriate with staff preparing work packages for a few weeks at a time for the children to complete with parents. There has also been a significant amount of time given to establishing new protocols and ongoing changes to policies to accommodate remote education. All this with continued marking and feedback by the staff of the Middle and Upper School pupils’ work, through Google Classroom and associated apps.
The staff have been so blessed by the way that families have been able to support and encourage their children, and that about 90% of CFS pupils are engaged in regular remote education.
In addition the government published guidance on Wednesday; Remote education practice for schools during coronavirus. It’s encouraging in reviewing the case studies that at CFS we are achieving very similar approaches to the best practice examples, relevant to our context. In fact, it looks as though in some respects we are achieving more; this is partially aided by the small size of our school and the strong relational foundation on which we are building.
Finally, none of this would be possible without the support of the CFS community by families supporting their children with their remote learning and continuing to pay fees, often sacrificially, which is enabling the teachers to stay employed and able to deliver a rich education. Let’s continue to remain faithfully engaged as a community and trust the Lord to carry us and provide for us through this challenging time.
It's been very exciting to hear about a pre-recorded Worship Assembly and The Merchant of Venice lesson, some lessons by videoconferencing, one-to-one sessions for additional support, as well as multiple work packages and some very interesting research projects. In Lower School the approach has been more age appropriate with staff preparing work packages for a few weeks at a time for the children to complete with parents. There has also been a significant amount of time given to establishing new protocols and ongoing changes to policies to accommodate remote education. All this with continued marking and feedback by the staff of the Middle and Upper School pupils’ work, through Google Classroom and associated apps.
The staff have been so blessed by the way that families have been able to support and encourage their children, and that about 90% of CFS pupils are engaged in regular remote education.
In addition the government published guidance on Wednesday; Remote education practice for schools during coronavirus. It’s encouraging in reviewing the case studies that at CFS we are achieving very similar approaches to the best practice examples, relevant to our context. In fact, it looks as though in some respects we are achieving more; this is partially aided by the small size of our school and the strong relational foundation on which we are building.
Finally, none of this would be possible without the support of the CFS community by families supporting their children with their remote learning and continuing to pay fees, often sacrificially, which is enabling the teachers to stay employed and able to deliver a rich education. Let’s continue to remain faithfully engaged as a community and trust the Lord to carry us and provide for us through this challenging time.
