THE HEADTEACHERS of Bromsgrove’s two high schools say they are receiving plenty of positive feedback about their remote learning arrangements during the latest lockdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave many heads just 12 hours notice when the announcement was made on Monday that all schools would be closed – except for vulnerable children and those of key workers.
Nick Gibson, headteacher at North Bromsgrove High School, said: “I have been extremely proud of how well our students have adjusted to remote learning.
“Our staff are delivering live lessons with students following their normal timetable and have been impressed with student engagement so far.
“We have had many positive comments from parents on social media.”
North Bromsgrove High has many parents who are frontline workers and the school is committed to continuing to support the keyworker and vulnerable students and Mr Gibson thanked families for their continued support.
“I have also been impressed with how my staff have responded to constant changing government guidance.
“Not least given, at times, the tardiness of some of the announcements and sparsity of important detail.
“Whilst one appreciates there are inevitable challenges in dealing with the constantly evolving nature of the pandemic, I do feel that our students, parents and staff have been placed under unnecessary additional pressure and anxiety as a result of tardy announcements which lack granular detail.
“Specifically, parents would have appreciated a notice period regarding school closure.
“Equally, schools urgently need the granular detail of the Teacher Assessment methodology given the decisions on GCSE and A level exams and alternatives to BTEC examinations.
“We are committed to ensuring students and staff are safe and we will be offering lateral flow tests over the coming weeks in doing our bit to support the health across our North family.”
Chris Smith, headteacher of South Bromsgrove High said he and the staff enacted their remote learning plan quickly and were delivering lessons online first thing on Tuesday morning.
Whilst at home, students at South are following their usual timetable, where their teachers set them work and provide live delivery and question and answer sessions via Microsoft Teams, with further time for students to work independently to consolidate their learning.
On top of this, students receive regular contact with their tutors who provide pastoral support at this challenging time.
Assemblies are delivered weekly to give students a chance to feel a part of their wider community despite learning from home.
He added the small number of key worker and vulnerable students who were in school were also following their timetables and receiving online lessons from their own teachers to ensure they did not fall behind.
Mr Smith added: “We were ready for online learning and it is going well so far.
“We have received a lot of positive feedback from parents and students who value the high quality learning experience that teachers are providing remotely.”
