CLASSROOMS may be closed due to the Covid-19 crackdown but learning is continuing thanks to virtual schools springing up across the kingdom.
The two-week-long enforced closure, aimed at curtailing the spread of the coronavirus, has led to innovative ways being introduced to connect teachers, pupils and parents.
Riffa Views International School (RVIS), for example, has implemented an action plan it had worked out earlier this year when unrest between the USA and Iran looked like spiraling out of control.
Head of School Tara Waudby said: “The goal of Virtual School was to ensure learning continued in the event of school closure.
“In January, when regional tensions arose, we came together as a team to upgrade our Virtual School guidelines.
“Our teachers and students are engaging in some amazing learning, and we are very proud that the transition has been so seamless.
“We are delighted with the engagement, support and positivity and our teachers are delivering amazing online learning experiences.
“We’re all learning together, and this is exciting because this showcases the future. Our goals are being fostered as students engage in an authentic online environment.
“Our leadership team is engaged in the classes as well, so we are able to connect with our community via ‘virtual walkthroughs’. We are also continuing our collaborative structures, so our teachers are meeting by grade level or department on a regular basis and these conversations are inspiring and collaborative. And, we are continuing to host parent meetings virtually.”
RVIS says it felt confident in its technology structures and that it had a ‘solid plan’ in place. The school, like many others on the island, has several years of experience using Google digital learning platforms, for example.
The aim has been to ‘carry on learning’ but not necessarily replicate a traditional timetabled school day and it appears to be working with pupils engaged in activities together with teachers, alongside one-to-one sessions, and producing and providing evidence of homework and activities conducted in their own time.
Ken Davis, RVIS’s admissions and marketing director, said his children, Jane, seven, and Peter, five, were so enjoying the tasks they had been set, their younger pre-school brother, Oliver, three, was demanding his parents provided him with his own homework too.
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One early morning live session with Grade 5 students, including the head’s daughter, Mia, 11, had teacher Nicole Neutzling hosting a virtual one-hour maths lesson, and she could be seen and heard clearly on the children’s laptops, desktops and big screen TVs.
“It’s a big challenge,” said Miss Neutzling, “but I’ve really been enjoying it. I’m really fortunate because my kids, at the age they are, are really into tech.”
Although this was the first time she had taught virtually, she has been busy studying for her Masters in Digital Learning online, so in a reversal of roles, she has moved from virtual student to tutor.
“It’s not an ideal situation,” she admitted, “but I think our school has been really good at making the best of the current situation and I’m really proud. It has brought a lot of collaboration and we’re really helping each other.”
Mia and her younger sister, Madison, eight, said they both missed being with their friends in the classroom environment but this was a ‘fine’ alternative. They were enjoying the virtual lessons and communicating with classmates online, and were ‘not bored’ at home as they both had plenty of activities and teacher assignments to get on with.
And it’s not all work and no play, as their dad, Marcus, the school’s director of sport and his department, make sure of that.
“We have every student in school taking part in physical activities on a daily basis. We challenge every child to get involved in 60 minutes of activity every day. It could be smaller chunks, say 10 minutes walking, 20 minutes cycling, or playing football in the garden. We just want the kids to be active during the day.
“We don’t want them sat in front of a computer the whole day, we want them enjoying the outdoors and being active.”
Other private schools offering remote classes include Bahrain Bayan and Naseem International School, as reported on GDNonline. Public schools in the country have also come onboard although some parents have complained that they were having difficulty accessing the ministry’s educational portal due to high pressure on the system.
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