Highfields will be expanding its successful Remote Learning Programme to include far more video-based lessons and tutorials, as students and staff were told to expect school to remain shut until September.
The school has been closed to all students - other than the children of key workers - since March 20th in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Although the government has announced plans for some primary school students to return to classrooms from June 1st, no clear guidance has yet been given for the reopening of secondary schools.
Plans and preparations for Highfields to reopen are constantly being reviewed by the school’s Senior Leadership team, but Headteacher, Mr G Tate, said that comprehensive risk assessments would have to be carried out to ensure a safe environment for all students and staff before they can return.
He added: “From a secondary perspective we know that there are no plans for Years 7, 8 or 9 to return to school before September, and a rather ambiguous ambition for students in Years 10 and 12 to have some ‘face to face contact’ this half-term.
“It is for each school to consider the best approach to reopening given their own circumstances.
“Whilst I fully accept that Coronavirus will be with us for the foreseeable future and that there may not be a perfect time to return to school, there are a number of things that must happen before we are at the point where we can look to significantly increase the numbers of students in school.
“We fully appreciate that parents/carers, staff and students all need to feel confident that it is safe for larger numbers of students to return to school and as such we are constantly reviewing our plans for how we can ensure everyone’s safety when we reach that point.
“School has of course remained open for a number of students throughout this period and as such we know that it is possible to maintain a safe school environment with suitable hygiene and social distancing measures. Any increase in these numbers needs very careful consideration and comprehensive risk assessment.
“Given the continued uncertainty we will continue our plans and preparations, but at this stage they will be made with no set date of return in mind and with consideration of a number of different potential scenarios.”
The school will now put even greater emphasis on its Remote Learning Programme, which is accessed through our HP Streams and has allowed students to continue their curriculum from home.
The programme was launched in March and has been constantly updated and improved following feedback from students and parents. It is now set to be extended further to include additional video and audio tutorials, whilst allowing students to have some virtual ‘face to face’ contact with teachers, initially for those in Year 12.
Mr Tate said: “The views of students, parents and carers have been extremely helpful in informing us at which parts of the programme are working particularly well and which can be developed further.
“Based on that feedback, a priority for the next half-term will be to make increased use of video technologies to ensure effective communication with students and parents particularly in the form of materials with audio or visual instruction.
“We will also move towards a situation where students can participate in live tutorials to be in direct contact with their teachers.
“It may be the case that this is the ‘face to face contact’ that we need, particularly with Years 10 and 12, if a physical return to school is not possible this term.
“There will of course likely be teething problems whether technical, training or just familiarity and it will be useful to get these ironed out with our older students.
“Could I take this opportunity to once again thank parents/carers and students for the exceptional way they have worked together in such difficult circumstances.”
For more information about our remote learning programme, click here
Further individual technical support is also available by emailing digitalsupport@hswv.co.uk.
