Continuity of Learning at Ashford School - Day 1

"Well done to Ashford School! The teachers and staff, heads, support staff have clearly worked very hard to transition to this alien scenario. The day to day operation is also new and is well managed and operated - it must be very challenging and tiring for the teachers .... Thank you, much appreciated and well done !!"

"Today I felt privileged to be part of APS. The School have worked so hard to provide an exceptional online community and learning structure for my children during these unprecedented times. To see and hear teachers video messages made it feel very connected. Thank you so much."

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Today was the launch of our online school for Ashford Prep and Senior School. With all systems in place to go and teachers prepped from last week, I have to say it went exceptionally well. We have had some excellent feedback from parents, students and teachers. No doubt we faced some challenges but in all, did pretty well despite these unprecedented times and new approaches to teaching and learning for all. As we carry on teaching and learning in this manner, I will upload some major highlights/feedback, new actions to follow up and comments.  

Some highlights from the primary years (use of Seesaw and Showbie):

1)  Parent - "this is great" "the kids have got it" "at least my child is doing something" to "what are the codes" "I don't know how to work this"  "can someone help me please"

Its early days so not too worried. Will probably take a few days of intense IT fixes but we will get there by mid week. 

2) Really good idea to stop children spamming a conversation thread on Showbie. Great way to stop this by Pausing Student Post. 

3) Some parents really enjoyed collaborating and interacting with their children. They were able to work as professionals and were still able to keep an eye on their children. 

4) A shortened timetable up to 1pm with an optional online lunch for children overseen by a parent/guardian close by. This timing worked well for our younger ones with extended activities for the afternoon (if needed). 

5) Uploaded worksheets was really great and the students could annotate on top of them. I think a stylus of some sort would be helpful .... but it is late in the day to order one now. However, it is possible to create a homemade one - see below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-rPLMErdFU&feature=share

6) Visibility is key - more teachers are going to add in voice feedback and video (captured by camera) into lesson starters - one to action.

Student feedback - "it was easy and I was able to do all my work. I liked throwing the ball up in the air and having lunch with my friend online"

Teacher feedback - "I saw it as teacher and parent (prep and senior) and thought it was brilliant!"

Teacher feedback - "Child X really enjoyed his first day of online learning.  They said it went really well."

Some highlights/feedback from the secondary years (Office 365 Suite of Applications):

1) Definitely had some IT issues but pretty much sorted itself out as we carried on our day. We aim to sort it all out by midweek. 

2) Older students worked pretty much independently on their tasks and offered peer to peer support. 

3) Most students worked through either a PC/Laptop (of their own) and their mobile phone and connected into our school Office 365 environment. This was more challenging for younger students than the older ones - in terms of keeping up with the pace of technology and submitting tasks. 

4) Students expressed that they appreciated the pre-recorded lessons and catch up session with students. Helped sustain the connectedness and flow. Lessons where teachers were not available was difficult and not engaging. 

5) Timetable is relatively shorter. While lessons were still 40 minutes in length, the rest of the day was shortened to avoid an extended day of screen time. This is reflected in setting homework and marking time for teachers (although still need further refinement - something to action).

Student feedback - ..."the day was pretty good actually. I was able to do all my work and keep in touch with my friends and teachers"

Student feedback - ... "I am now back in home in China. Even though my hours are different to everyone else, I can still make it work"

Teacher feedback - "Interesting - I think it takes longer to plan lessons but am enjoying the fact that there is a lot less marking!!"