Newcastle High School For Girls Embeds Innovative Approach To Learning

The impact of the pandemic on schools is a subject that's been regularly making headlines around the UK. With talk of 'bubbles', A-Level results algorithms and home-schooling, the last few months have been far from easy for pupils, teachers and parents alike.

However, as we embrace the new academic year, one Newcastle school is feeling confident in its ability to adapt to any new challenges that Covid-19 might throw its way. Staff at Newcastle High School for Girls (NHSG), an independent school that prides itself on delivering an outstanding all-girls’ learning and teaching programme, found lockdown an education in its own right.

In autumn 2019, NHSG launched a brand new tech programme designed to create dynamic and flexible educational opportunities for its pupils. When the Government announced, just six months later, that all schools would be temporarily closing, the IT infrastructure and the staff training that were already in place proved invaluable. Michael Tippett, Head, NHSG, said: “With the majority of pupils required to remain at home during the spring and summer, we were determined to find a way to deliver excellent live teaching remotely. Because the infrastructure was already in place as part of our wider IT strategy, we made it our mission to whole-heartedly embrace any new opportunities that technology presented.

“Consequently, we moved rapidly to a Guided Home Learning programme where we successfully delivered online live lessons for pupils. We advanced the use of technology in teaching and learning at NHSG exponentially.

“Importantly for the girls, it resulted in minimal disruption to their education, enabling daily face to face contact with staff for lessons and pastoral support.”

With the new academic year underway, and the pandemic far from over, NHSG’s proven success in Guided Home Learning has been reassuring for both pupils and parents. Michael Tippett added: “In some ways, September has started much like any other, with the usual mix of excitement and nerves although perhaps at a more heightened level. It’s been a real joy to see the girls’ delight at being back in the classroom with their peers again after so many weeks apart. They also return with the confidence that the School is ready and prepared for every eventuality, including where some girls are in school and some may be required to be at home if self-isolating. We can switch at a moment’s notice to a blended teaching programme where we can deliver lessons simultaneously to girls in the classroom and at home.

“The reassurance this provides for pupils is enormous and removes any anxiety they may have had about missing their lessons or school. It’s one less thing for them and their parents to worry about.”

As a school that channels as much energy into pupil wellbeing as it does academic excellence, NHSG has also found that technology can enable virtual assemblies, school house and charity events, performances and sporting activities to support the NHSG and wider community. And alongside this, the opportunity for collaborative activities through the use of technology is opening up a vast range of enriching educational experiences.

Michael Tippett said: “A new landscape is unfolding in which the spirit of creativity, innovation and collaboration has been unleashed leading to significant changes and improvements to the way our pupils learn.