It’s been an incredibly busy first half of the summer term at Lyonsdown School – with pupils taking part in a whole host of interesting interactive lessons and activities as part of their Remote Education.
“We are absolutely delighted with the positive feedback we’ve received from parents about our Remote Education provision,” says Head, Chris Hammond. “We’ve responded to the current situation with an adapted timetable and a blend of daily interactive teaching and recorded sessions via Microsoft Teams to enable all families, depending on their personal circumstances, to access different aspects of the School day at a time that best suits them.”
The timetable this term has been full of exciting lessons across all areas of the curriculum. For example, in English, Year 4 pupils chose their favourite poems to practise their handwriting skills and are being encouraged to showcase their own poetry in a weekly Poetry Corner. In History, Year 3 pupils investigated and made their own Roman mosaics, as well as designing and making their own eye-catching Roman inspired jewellery. Whilst our Nursery children have been exploring the theme of transport – they have enjoyed making boats to explore floating and sinking.
Specialist teaching continues, remotely, with:
- An astonishing array of artwork being created! In their lessons with our specialist Art teacher each week, pupils have been learning about different artists and techniques. Year 1’s have studied Monet’s Waterlilies and Kandinsky’s Concentric Circles, Year 2’s Goldfish bowl paintings were inspired by Matisse, Year 3’s have been practicing their observational drawing skills, Year 4’s landscapes inspired by Hockney, Year 5’s repeat tile patterns inspired by William Morris, and Year 6’s created some fun Pop Art pieces.
- Pupils enjoying musical inspiration each week – including lessons such as Year 4 and 5 composing their own ‘Earth’ piece for a short animation set by the BBC Ten Pieces.
- Interactive Spanish lessons for all of our children from Nursery to Year 6 – with pupils learning a variety of topics including different items of clothing in Spanish.
- PE sessions have included #TryYourBestThursday with challenges such as ‘How many kick-ups can you do in 1 minute?’ and the ‘Burpee challenge.’
- STEAM continues to be a focus for Lyonsdown, even during Remote Education, with Science lessons taking place and even some experiments being encouraged! From Year 2 matching seeds with their fruits, to Year 6 pupils learning about the colours of the spectrum and the work of Isaac Newton.
The wider curriculum has continued to thrive during Remote Education too:
- Each week, pupils have been encouraged to ‘muse’ over different topics, thanks to Mrs Windsor’s popular ‘Midweek Musings’. Topics have included ‘Being bored is actually good for you’, ‘Does time always move forward’, and ‘Great mistakes’.
- Lyonsdown’s weekly Learning Challenges have also been well-received – as they have encouraged pupils to challenge themselves in a variety of ways. This has included boosting their physical and mental wellbeing by practising yoga or making smoothies (yum!), to recording a piece of Shakespeare.
- The responses to Mr Hammond’s fun virtual Assembly Challenges have also been brilliant – with children throwing themselves into the activities that have been set. From the deceptively simple ‘How many times could you fold a piece of paper’, to making the perfect bubble mixture, and showing kindness through their actions and drawings. The activities have certainly kept pupils entertained and enthralled during lockdown.
Reading has also been an important part of the week – with reading scheduled into our pupils’ timetables, to enable them to sit down and enjoy reading a book. It has been wonderful to see pupils engrossed in their books in all the pictures they have shared! For younger pupils, there have been set story times each week, where they have been able to enjoy their teachers and TAs reading their favourite stories to them. Along with benefiting from online one-to-one reading sessions too.
With all these exciting lessons and activities, it’s no surprise that parent feedback has been so positive. In a recent survey, 96% of parents in Nursery and Reception, and 80% of parents in Years 1-6, have said they are ‘very’ or ‘fairly’satisfied with Lyonsdown’s Remote Education offering. Parents are particularly delighted with the “huge amount of effort put into providing the content to keep the children educated, occupied and engaged”, as well as it being great to see their children “learning and interacting with teachers and other kids. It’s amazing to see how much effort teachers and the school is putting in to continue their learning in this new challenging environment.”
“We’re all incredibly pleased that parents are happy with our Remote Education, and most importantly, that our pupils are continuing to develop and learn during this time,” concludes Mr Hammond. “Given the strange times that we find ourselves in, the children’s learning could not continue without the wonderful support and efforts of their families at home – so we wish all of our parents, as well as our pupils, a relaxing break after such a busy half term of learning!”
To read more about how our Remote Education launched at Lyonsdown, please click here.
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