Bolton primary school Principal reveals changing face of education under COVID-19
A Principal at a Bolton primary school has revealed the remarkable measures teachers and staff are taking to support pupils during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teacher, Aisha Dakri, finds a novel approach to teaching a Year 2 Class reading comprehension.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, schools across the country have been working hard to help keep pupils safe, happy and learning.
But additional challenges, including maintaining bubble and increased safety measures, have meant that many teachers have had to learn new skills and introduce new methods to adapt to the rapidly changing environment.
Sabina Saeed, Principal at The Olive School, Bolton, told how teachers at her school had pulled out all the stops to keep pupils safe and engaged with their learning.
She said: “Our teachers and non-teaching staff have been going above and beyond to ensure our pupils have been able to thrive in this extremely challenging environment.
“The safety of our pupils and staff is, of course, our primary concern and we are all working exceptionally hard to protect our school community.
“One of biggest challenges many teachers in the area are facing is ensuring that pupils are able to access consistent and continuous education so that they don’t fall behind. Obviously, if pupils are off school due to COVID-19, we need to ensure that they are still able to continue their learning at home and that it meets the same high standards as it would if they were in school.
“During lockdown, our staff have been teaching live, online lessons to ensure our pupils’ education wasn’t interrupted and they continued to make progress despite the school being closed to most pupils.
“Even our youngest children, in the Early Years groups, have benefited from our live lessons, which have included live story-times, phonics and numeracy lessons.
Special Support Assistant – Shakerha Patel teaches a one-to-one intervention to a child who is self-isolating.
“Throughout the pandemic, our SENCO lead has been helping to adapt
provision for our SEND children by scheduling special 1-1 online classes for those who are shielding or self-isolating.
“We have taken a very individual view of our children, their families and their needs to ensure that every single learner in our school is cared for.”
The Principal also described how the school was helping to care for the wellbeing of families after local COVID-19 restrictions left many feeling isolated.
Sabina Saeed said: “We recognise that the pandemic has taken a huge toll on the wellbeing of our parents, as well as our pupils, so we have been very keen to look after parents’ wellbeing too. The extra measures that have been put in place in Bolton have meant that our parents are missing their usual opportunities to socialise with one another.
“I think we are all feeling the impact of the restrictions so we decided to give parents a regular online forum so they can socialise safely. We have already hosted a charity quiz where our parents were given an opportunity to catch up and have a chat and we will be organising more of these online events to stop our families feeling isolated.
“We know these are difficult times for everyone and we would like to thank all our parents and carers who continue to observe the measures we have put in place to keep us all safe and well.
English Teacher, Samantha Slater, teaches a live online lesson.
“I would also like to say a special thank you to our wonderful staff who have done so much behind the scenes to help protect our pupils and to make sure that they are able to continue thrive.”
During lockdown, The Olive School, Bolton and Eden Boys’ School, Bolton ran a foodbank which helped almost 350 families from the local community in just under two months. The foodbank helped a record 69 families in one day and provided struggling families with everything they needed from basic meals to nappies, soap and washing powder.
Added By: Olive Bolton | Date Added: 6th Oct 2020 | Posted In: Latest News