The Mother Of Invention

There is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has been an extremely challenging period for schools. The experience for pupils, staff and parents has been a very different one in recent months. Change and adaptability have become the order of the day.

At Newcastle School for Boys, we have tried to remain true to our aims of challenging and supporting each boy to achieve the highest levels of academic progress, as well as continuing to develop boys and young men of excellent character. At the same time, we have been working hard to keep everybody in our school and local community safe and well and, in doing so, maximise boys’ and staff attendance to support the pursuit of those school aims. Government restrictions have meant that many things have had to be adapted – often at quite short notice. Necessity – the saying goes – is the mother of invention and that need for invention has brought about some interesting learning. Feedback is a vital part of the learning process – feedback for the learner but also for our parents who are heavily invested in their son’s education. One of the ways in which that feedback is traditionally shared is at parents’ evenings. It has not been possible this term to invite parents into school for parents’ evenings and all the contact and interaction that typically comes with such events. We have brought our parents’ evenings online and they are now conducted remotely via a piece of bespoke software that allows appointments to be set and video calls to be made. Whilst we would never want to dispense completely with the opportunity for staff and parents to meet face-to-face, online parents’ evenings have brought about some unexpected benefits. Arguably, they are more convenient for parents and, in some cases, this has allowed both parents to join the event. No more travelling, leaving work early or childcare concerns. Simply log on from home, work or even another location as suits. Knowledge that the conversation will be limited by the software to a strict length means that conversations are even more focussed and purposeful. Where it is necessary for lengthier conversations to take place, these can be arranged for another occasion. Opportunities for interaction amongst pupils of different ages and in different year groups have been limited this term. Boys have been arranged into class and year group bubbles, as per Government guidance. As a school that values and promotes community and good relationships, including the interaction between older and younger pupils, this is a little limiting. Our configuration across multiple sites already limits the opportunity for whole school events to just a few times a year. However, our increased use of technology has found a way around this and, in some respects, brought us closer together as a community. Working online, we were recently able to conduct a whole school Remembrance Day event for our very youngest boys aged three through to our sixth formers. We have also extended the application of technology to our open days. Many schools have issued pre-recorded material to parents. We have preferred to run live online events for our open days – Junior School, Senior School and Sixth Form – to maintain personal contact and interaction with the parents and pupils joining those events. With the possibility of a coronavirus vaccine on the not too distant horizon, in the meantime as we head towards perhaps a different type of Christmas in school this year, we will be doing all that we can to ensure that our boys can safely enjoy the usual carol services, concerts and Christmas lunches in adapted ways.