Education and Training Awards 2021

Education and Training Awards 2021 23 Excellence Award for Remote Primary Education Tuition Services - UK There’s no question that the global pandemic massively disrupted the education system, with schools closing and children being forced to learn from their home environments. We speak to Maxim Kelly of Laxey School and Dhoon School Federation, both of which not only successfully weathered the Covid storm, but also excelled at doing it with their innovative approach. Laxey School is situated in the village of Laxey on the Isle of Man. It serves a mixed catchment area consisting of owner-occupied properties, local authority housing and several farms. Forming part of a Federation with Dhoon School, just a short drive away along the coast, the overall responsibility for both schools lies with the Executive Headteacher, Maxim Kelly. The school opened in 1929 and benefits from a large number of classrooms, a youth wing, kitchens and dedicated dining room, sports hall and changing facilities, and a substantial playground area with recreational equipment and a climbing wall. Dhoon School, which dates back to 1876, boasts similar facilities, with a dedicated playing field, playground, and outdoor learning areas. “Both learning environments are stimulating, purposeful and vibrant, reflecting our high standards,” explains Maxim Kelly. “If we had to choose one word to encapsulate what our school does well and excels at, I would say “relationships.” Relationships with pupils, relationships with staff, relationships with the locality, relationships with the wider community. People matter and that is the bedrock of our school.” Laxey School benefits from having a strong community around it, with the people of Laxey Village playing pivotal roles within the school, and Maxim strives to ensure that it is an active contributor to the community in turn. “The School takes pride in our vision to create an environment where everyone feels valued and has equal opportunities to thrive,” he continues. “We believe in a growth mindset teaching style and encourage children to instil these learning habits into their daily lives.” Based in Glen Mona, Dhoon School is a creative, innovative and dynamic learning community, built upon traditional values and strong community links; where everyone is encouraged, empowered and inspired to be happy and successful, to seek improvement and to strive for excellence. “We believe that all of our pupils are entitled to the very best education we can provide and offer a creative and innovative curriculum, consistently delivering high quality learning opportunities using a variety of approaches designed to engage, enthuse and inspire. We have high expectations and continually strive for excellent pupil outcomes.” Like all companies and businesses, the school federation found itself at the heart of a local community response during the global pandemic, with the schools seeking to reassure parents, support pupils and encourage staff. “After our first lockdown, Laxey and Dhoon had developed a remote learning response “on-the-go” as had so many other schools the length and breadth of the country. We set about reviewing our remote provision and planning immediately so that if we went back into lockdown - as we did - we would be unrivalled in terms of preparation, resource, delivery and overall response. We felt we owed this kind of mentality and reaction to our families and pupils.” Apr21773 During the summer holidays, Maxim ran a series of optional online live sessions via Zoom, with children able to attend daily, now and then, or not at all. In addition, the school offered daily email support as well, including the opportunity to feedback on specific work examples or make suggestions on the next steps in learning. Maxim reported that, for those children and families making use of the summer lessons, he saw it as an ideal opportunity to practise using the technology and to become more ‘expert’ in using the Zoom platform to deliver online learning. From a leadership perspective, Mr Kelly also demonstrated to his staff that he was prepared to put in the hard yards when it came to remote learning delivery, and this helped with his credibility enormously when he did, in fact, have to ask his teachers to begin a move towards live lessons in lockdown 2.0 onwards. “The move into remote learning and live lessons heralded an opportunity - and that excited Laxey and Dhoon School,” he enthuses. “Rather than being an inconvenience or difficulty, our schools choose to embrace the newness of the moment. “We set out to read, watch and learn from others - on Twitter, in books, in the news and from reaching out and talking to colleagues in other schools through our family network of Inclusion Quality Mark recognised institutions. We trailed, we experimented, we sought pupil feedback, parent feedback and staff feedback. “Our staff meetings became learning forums for us to exchange ideas and talk about how we could make it all work. The result was an almost “self-taught” pedagogy through informal action research that we believed - and still do - sets us apart in our approach to delivering live lessons.” Contact: Max Kelly Company: Laxey School and Dhoon School Federation Web Address: laxey.sch.im . & dhoon.sch.im