Kings College Introduces Face-to-Face Lessons In School Before Summer Term Ends

Published on: 13 Jul, 2020
Updated on: 14 Jul, 2020

Kings College in Park Barn has welcomed its Year 7 pupils back into school to spend time face-to-face with their teachers and friends.

Kings College in Park Barn has welcomed back Year 7 pupils.

The secondary school said these 11- and 12-year-olds will be closely followed by all other year groups on separate days before the end of term, with the aim of supporting their wellbeing and academic progress.

This series of year group in-school days will see students spend time with their tutors, take part in maths, English and science lessons and join in team building activities through PE. This is in addition to Year 10s who are, as per government guidelines, already attending face-to-face lessons in core and options subjects twice a week.

Kings College practises a student-centred approach to learning and these one-off days have been launched to help students feel that normality is edging ever closer.

Social distancing and an emphasis on hygiene will mean that school might seem a little different, but what remains unchanged is the happiness of Kings teachers and staff to see and care for their students face-to-face.

Kings College’s principal Alastair McKenzie said: “It’s extremely important for us to have some face-to-face contact with all of our students before the summer break.

“They’ve all been working incredibly hard through our successful remote learning offer but seeing their friends and their teachers are key parts of school life and a full and rounded educational experience. Although we have been communicating regularly with all of our families, these days in school will feel special for our students and staff alike.”

Kings College pupils are now spending time face-to-face with their teachers and friends before the end of the summer term.

Bayley, a student in Year 7, said: “It’s brilliant to be back in. The lessons online have been good, but it’s just really nice to see my teachers.”

Since the very first day of school closures, Kings College said it has responded to the fast moving changes by providing live and recorded virtual lessons, continuously setting and feeding back on work that students are submitting remotely, and checking in regularly all of their families.

In order to enable all students to access its virtual learning offer, staff at Kings have hand delivered 64 tablets and laptops in the first two weeks of lockdown and have since provided more IT equipment following generous donations from the Royal Grammar School Guildford Community.

In the last four weeks alone, more than 3,000 pieces of work have been submitted by students online and more than 100 high-quality videos of content produced by teachers. For example, staff have been producing themed content, as pirates or space explorers to help engage students in their maths work.

A Year 7 parent said: “You are all doing an amazing job, keeping up the learning for everyone.”

Guildford Dragon NEWS writer and local historian David Rose has been producing a series of short Powerpoint presentations based on Guildford during the Second World War for the school’s history department.

This story is based on a press release from the Guildford Education Partnership, of which Kings College is a member of.