You've all "exceeded expectations"

Sunday 31 May 2020

Students, parents and school staff are said to have "exceeded expectations" with their efforts and dedication to distance learning during recent weeks - with just days remaining before most pupils return to school to attend lessons under a 'new normal' set of rules.

Sark School has already welcomed pupils back, with Guernsey's three private schools reopening to primary and senior students tomorrow. Alderney's St Anne's School and all of Guernsey's States run primary and secondary schools will be reopening a week tomorrow.

Around 500 students have continued attending lessons at their school throughout the lockdown however, either because their parents are essential workers or because they are classed as vulnerable. That means more than 6,000 others have been learning at home instead, supported by their teachers and parents. 

President of Education, Sport and Culture, Deputy Matt Fallaize is one of those parents who has been encouraging his own children to learn at home while their schools have been closed, and he said everyone involved has "exceeded expectations" with a survey of more than 2,000 parents and carers also suggesting the experience has been "overwhelmingly positive" for most families.

Pictured: Senior Education Advisor, Laurie Baker and Deputy Matt Fallaize, during an interview with Express this week. 

Deputy Fallaize said the success of the distance learning scheme has been down to a number of people all working together.

"That is down to a lot of hard work from teachers, across all phases of education and we now know that if we have to turn distance learning back on again, because schools have to close then we know what works well, we know what works less well and we will be able to get distance learning up and running again very quickly, if it's needed - but hopefully it won't be needed."

A survey of parents echoed what Deputy Fallaize said about distance learning working well for most families, with nearly 90% of parents saying the work set for their children was 'of about the right standard', while more than 90% said the instructions for the learning were 'acceptable or very good'.

Seven out of 10 parents with children in primary or secondary schools said their children have completed all or nearly all of the work set by teachers. Almost all other children have completed some of the work set.

More than eight out of 10 parents said they were happy with the level of communication from their child’s school.

A survey of students at the College of Further Education resulted in 225 responses with over 95% saying they were still enjoying their course during distance learning and that they were continuing to learn.

Above: Data collated by the States suggested distance learning had worked for most families.

Pupils at States run primary and secondary schools will continue distance learning this coming week, before returning to lessons from Monday 8 June.

Pupils at the private colleges will return to lessons from Monday 1 June.

While some parents and students may be worried about work that has been missed during the lockdown, Guernsey's Senior Education Advisor, Laurie Baker said it's about looking at things differently.

"I think what's really important is that when we're talking to our young people we're reflecting the message that this is an unprecedented situation globally that all young people, and many adults as adult learners too have been affected by this period of hiatus - which is probably the best way to describe it in terms of normal learning.

"Being back in school will help some of our young people in phase 4 reset that learning button but it's really important that we don't create a culture of panic about what may have been missed and that instead we're looking forward and actually we're fortunate to have a profession that will be able to target the key learning milestones and tweak our curriculum and shift the focus if we need to."