The COVID-19 pandemic has dictated many aspects of our lives and brought us a multitude of challenges to keep children engaged in virtual learning.
Technology has enabled teachers to connect with students remotely and to conduct lessons online using various platforms and apps that promise engaging content alongside interactive opportunities. However, the reality of online learning depends on a variety of conditions that often hinge on children’s mental state.
Therefore, it is vital to address children’s wellbeing at all stages of virtual school to ensure that they stay motivated, keep learning and most importantly continue to thrive during these difficult times.
In all year groups, we have made some changes to our VSE (Virtual School Experience) timetables to further support students’ wellbeing. There is an optional daily wellbeing session that children enjoy that involves a range of movement activities.
The ‘screen breaks’ time has been included in our timetable where students are encouraged to move away from their screen and take part in physical activities and craft activities each day.
For more information about our Timetables, you can visit:
Children can now join their morning calls slightly earlier to give them time to prepare their resources and also greet their friends and teachers.
For many of our Early Years students, this is their first school experience and we believe it is important for them to build positive relationships with their peers. Students have small group calls twice a week which gives them more opportunities to communicate with their friends and join in with learning activities in a fun and engaging way.
Lee see our students from Year 1 to Year 9 dance to High School Musical's song: 'We're all in this together!'
In weekly Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) lessons, students of all year groups are able to improve their understanding of social and emotional health and wellbeing as they focus on this unit’s theme of celebrating differences.
Let's read how our students celebrated the World Children's Day and learnt about Children's Rights:
Every morning and afternoon, the PE (Physical Education) team lead sessions which all students can attend to start and end the day with some activity and exercise.
Wake up and morning sessions
In Primary, ECAs are run twice a week, offering students a variety of exciting activities.
In Secondary, the Student Parliament and Prefects have led a week with a focus on emotional health, leading meditation, and yoga. We have put on a social and gaming ECA as well as a Meditation ECA led by these students which they run weekly and are extremely popular.
In Early Years and Primary, we use Pogo Perseverance to teach resilience to students and this value is further developed during our live virtual lessons where children are supported by staff to improve their learning. Students are rewarded house points and virtual stickers when they demonstrate positive values such as perseverance during online learning.
In Primary, students from Year 4 to Year 6 can complete a fortnightly well-being check-in questionnaire, where they tell us about their week and any concerns they may have. This allows their Class Teachers an insight into our students’ individual emotional health and offer additional support.
In Secondary, the Heads of Year have worked with all Tutors to ensure that there are different and varied activities happening in registration to engage students and empower them to take responsibility for their own emotional health. Our school counsellor has spoken with all students through assembly and is in regular contact with students to help them with any concerns they may have.
The students also fill in a questionnaire every two weeks to give us feedback about how they are feeling and coping with the VSE experience. This enables us to make changes and support all students within the community as well as individuals to continue to develop their knowledge and individual emotional health.
Let's see what our Primary students say about VSE:
