How Thamesmead School supported our learners through lockdown and the next steps
During the period of lockdown Thamesmead School was one of the 6% of state schools that offered live lessons to all students from the outset. We knew how important it was going to be to keep routine in place for our students if we were to keep them motivated through the weeks of home learning ahead. The week before closure we trained all the staff and students in how to use MS Teams and ordered laptops to distrib-ute to our families where we knew there was no computer access.
Out students had access to five 45-minute lessons daily, and a 10 minute tutor period, with their days repli-cating their normal timetables of lessons in school, with their regular teachers online at that time to teach them. We delivered assemblies online, and a series of house activities and other competitions too. While we know remote learning is no substitute for being in school, our students who made the most of the re-mote provision available will have significantly reduced the learning that would have been lost during this period.
Throughout the lockdown period we continued to have students in school whether they had parents who were key workers or we had identified them as students who would benefit greatly from the additional support being in school would provide. Once permitted to bring Year 10 GCSE students back into school for face to face learning we were careful to ensure our plans included pastoral care to check on their well being during lock down. We also had a dedicated team of staff who made regular contact with students and families at home if we had any worries about their well being so that we could provide support. We were thrilled when our local Aurora Rotary club made a generous donation of supermarket vouchers to our families who receive Free School Meals.
Our staff willingness to work hard to master new technology and deliver their lessons every day from home demonstrates their professionalism, commitment and care for our students. They went above and beyond that which was expected of them during this time. Throughout this time our parent community shared just how much they appreciated all that Thamesmead School was doing, and their encouraging messages of thanks provided motivation for our staff to keep going all the way through to the summer. We now look forward to seeing our students return to school in September, as unusual as that will be.
We hope that once we start September with all of our students returned to school that we not see further closures affecting schools in the same way. We have used the DfE guidance to prepare for reopening the school and have made some key changes to ensure we are keeping our students, staff and families safe. As recommended we have planned our day to ensure that each year group is kept separate from the others. To do this we have introduced a staggered school day with Key Stage 3 and 4 starting and finishing at differ-ent times. We have also extended our break times to ensure students can access our dining facilities safely and are zoning parts of the school. To reduce students moving around the school we will be trying to time-table students in the same room for as many lessons as we can but we hope there will be little change to learning itself. All practical lessons such as Science, Art, and Music will be still taught in specialist rooms so that students can have the best learning experience. Most importantly we have increased our cleaning and hygiene routines (such as regular hand washing and sanitising) to ensure students, staff, and the school site are as clean as possible. All schools have been asked to have remote learning contingency plans for how to deliver remote learning should it be needed again, and we are confident that Thamesmead School is already well ahead of many schools with our remote learning having worked so well already. This same plan will also mean that should any teachers need to self-isolate at home they can continue to teach their lessons to students in school so that contact is not lost. Unfortunately we have to limit the visitors on site to those who are essential only. Especially during the school day and therefore this does mean that we cannot offer physical tours of the school as we normally would. We will be doing all we can to help new parents and students get to know Thamesmead School via remote methods such as virtual tours, videos and webinars.