The importance of remote learning and laptops for schools has become a very important issue in recent months. But in Bedford, one school was way ahead of the game even before Covid-19 struck.
Seven years ago, Biddenham School took the strategic decision to issue all of its students with a Chromebook to keep for the duration of their time at the school to help with their studies.
When the school closed in March their students already had the equipment to hit the ground running for remote teaching and learning.
Principal David Bailey explained, “We use Google and Google classroom specifically, but it meant that during lockdown we were able to keep the learning going (through a mix of Google classroom, pre-recorded lessons and live lessons) and, importantly, maintain our contact with all of our students.
“Since September we have been able to maintain the learning of our students by ensuring that any students at home use Googlemeet to tune into the lesson they would have had and effectively take part remotely.
Similarly, any teachers who may have to be at home are teaching their lessons from home to their students in school, whilst the group is supported in school by a cover teacher. Should we return to a full lockdown we are ready to continue learning remotely.”
During these challenging times Biddenham School proved to be a good example of a state school supporting its community both educationally and in terms of its wellbeing and continuing to safely provide a top-quality education to all of its students.
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