St Hilary’s Delivered Successful Learning During National Lockdown

The Coronavirus pandemic has affected many areas of our lives, but St Hilary’s School worked hard to ensure that the excellent levels of education and pastoral care the pupils received continued as normally as possible.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that school buildings would be closed from Friday 20^th March 2020, St Hilary’s immediately put an action plan in place to ensure the continuity of teaching and learning and pastoral care.

The following Monday, pupils were greeted with a welcoming ‘Gate Chatter’ message from Headmistress Mrs Whittingham, a friendly Zoom assembly, home learning packs and a timetable of online activities to replicate their daily timetable. Mrs Whittingham was clear in her intention that, as far as possible, it should be ‘business as usual’ for the children – and it certainly was!

With positive reports shared by parents and teachers, it was evident to see that the pupils were making good academic progress, but more importantly also enjoying their remote learning. Many topics and projects could continue as usual. Indeed, the school-wide science project to grow a sunflower from seed was an ideal way to involve parents and siblings in the excitement of their blossoming seedlings.

Mrs Whittingham connected with families every morning and afternoon with her Gate Chatter – a photo and some words to start and end the school day – to replicate her familiar presence on the school gate. The regular Friday Notes newsletter also continued every single week during Lockdown. As a key part of the school’s communication with families, the usual photos from ‘Up The Big Red Staircase’ were replaced with photos of pupils’ achievements at home. These provided a delightful way to stay connected with classmates and friends.

Zoom assemblies took place for Prep and Pre-Prep children, whilst boys & girls in Nursery and Kindergarten enjoyed daily Wakey Shakey sessions and lots of other activities. Any child who would have usually proudly climbed ‘The Big Red Staircase’ to share good work and achievement continued to be recognised, including the much coveted Pupil of the Week, Commendations and Headmistress awards. The Remote Learning period even saw the invention of the ‘Virtual Kindness Bucket’ where parents, teachers or pupils could nominate boys and girls in recognition of kindness.

All in all, St Hilary’s racked up an impressive number of remote learning activities as shown in the attached image. The children embraced the changed situation by showing impressive resilience, independence and self-discipline in continuing to produce excellent work.

St Hilary’s has continued to utilise a wide range of technology. Class Assemblies are now pre-recorded and shared via a private YouTube link, allowing parents the facility of watching at their convenience, sharing with wider family and enjoying alongside their children. Musical performances such as the Tea Time Concert and the Grandparents’ Tea Party will also be available online, allowing a greater number of the wider St Hilary’s community to login and enjoy the wonderful things on offer at our School.

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