If two weeks ago you would have suggested to me that 100% of children aged from 4 to 16 would be online for six hours every day Monday to Friday following their normal school timetable through face-to-face video teaching and learning, ‘hanging out’ on the e-platform of Google Classroom and facilitating collaborative learning together, I would have imagined that you had drifted off into a parallel pedagogic universe.
In the last two weeks our world has tipped on its axis and in these unprecedented, frightening and anxious times for young people what they really need more than anything is the familiar, the routine and the safety that school provides for them. This is where Virtual Schooling really has come into its own at the Webber Independent School.
I have been so proud and impressed with the flexibility and adaptability of the children, staff and parents of the Webber Independent School community who have moved mountains, in a particularly pressured time frame, to set up 'Virtual Webber'.
After the first day of inevitable technical hitches and lost links, the technology has been very reliable and the transition to Virtual Webber has been more or less seamless.
The learning that the Senior Leadership Team are seeing each day as they ‘pop in’ to on-line learning is not just children working independently through pre-issued work packs. They are seeing fully interactive video lessons with the children and teachers, sharing screens and discussing tasks and ideas. Practical lessons too are carrying on with live yoga, cardio-dance workouts, rugby challenges and PE with Joe and virtual live music and art lessons!
Trips and visits are also still on the curriculum despite the lockdown and social distancing with art lessons taking place on virtual gallery tours and history lessons sparked by virtual museum trips all happening from the comfort of the ‘home classroom’!
We are very fortunate that we are part the Bellevue Education network of schools between which can share exciting subject ideas and challenging Year group resources, to pool our teaching expertise and tool kits in these potentially isolating times.
End of Term Reports will still be issued and parents and teacher consultations will continue with online video face-to-face meetings during the day and early evening. One benefit of a whole nation working from home!
Parental response to Virtual Webber has been overwhelmingly positive as parents appreciate that their children are being taught and not just issued with a packet of work and that the quality of teaching and learning continues to be excellent. This has taken the pressure off stressed and anxious parents who now don’t suddenly have to become experts in teaching 13 + subjects. This has allowed them the space and time to continue with their own important roles working from home, with the reassurance that their child is happy, engaged, supported and making good progress.
"Thank you to the wonderful staff for all you are doing for the students at Webber. My son seems to be enjoying the online lessons and he understands how lucky he is to have this opportunity."
"A huge thank you to the staff at Webber for ensuring that our children have been able to stay connected with their friends and teachers despite the lockdown."