10 minute read
A Coronavirus Challenge
School Life in Lockdown
The Fab 4 Charity Challenge Completing the Creative Challenge
Learning isn’t limited to the classroom... Bring a pet to Roll Call Friday!
Delivering prescriptions to the elderly Painting cards for local care homes The Creative Challenge
The Kindness Challenge The Coronavirus Challenge
In the blink of an eye, earlier this year, Coronavirus created a new era in education. One that had immediate ramifications, as well as a long tail of implications and consequences – not only for pupils at Oakham School, but those across the UK and the world. Here we look at how Oakham has responded, and continues to respond, to these challenges.
Locking Down
Back in March, as the world began to respond to the challenges it faced from Coronavirus, Oakham was already busy establishing its provision for distance learning. Before the Spring Term ended, staff and pupils had
been trained on Microsoft Teams in readiness for not returning, physically, to School in the Summer Term. As Headmaster, Henry Price, said: "At times of crisis, such as these, there is clarity of what's important. For us, it is that human relationships are at the heart of education; that face-to-face interactions and relationships matter and bring learning to life." A new Distance Learning timetable was established, enabling all lessons to be delivered online, with pupils benefiting from
a full daily timetable of two-way virtual teaching. Microsoft Teams enabled effective video discussions between a whole
class of pupils, for teachers to be able to share their screens as they live-streamed lessons and to incorporate their pre-recorded content. Oakham has always used the phrase 'learning isn't limited to the classroom'. Never has it been truer though, with our distance learning approach enabling pupils to continue to enjoy everything from their specialist music lessons to science lessons where they conducted investigations and experiments in their 'home laboratories'!
The continuation of Oakham’s strong sense of community, which is intrinsic to our pro-active pastoral care, was at the forefront of the School’s activities and priorities during lockdown. Despite being physically apart, pupils met (virtually) every day with their House. Tutor time was also embedded into the Distance Learning timetable, as it would be during a ‘normal’ school week, with pupils able to discuss what support they needed both in and outside of the classroom. Chapel also remained at the heart of Oakham's daily life, albeit virtually, with pupils enjoying everything from 'thought for the day' messages to singing together whilst in lockdown. Community spirit thrived through House activities, challenges and competitions. These were all designed to keep pupils connected and happy during this difficult time. There were Director of Sport, Iain Simpson, conducted a unique series of interviews with Oakham’s sporting alumni and a former member of staff.
Eleven of Oakham’s illustrious and upcoming sports men and women, representing a range of different sports from across the UK and the world, answered the same three questions: • What they are most proud in their sporting career? • What has been their toughest moment? • What advice they would give their 16-year-old self? The resulting interviews were a fascinating insight into different perspectives across a range of sports. To watch all the interviews, go to the sports pages of our website.
activities such as the wonderful Chapmans ‘Wonderwall’ video collaboration and ‘Bring a Pet to Roll Call Friday’ in Ancaster
– where trying to roll call over 50 girls accompanied by a collection of cats, dogs, rabbits and the occasional horse was something that will never be forgotten! The girls in Gunthorpe
sent uplifting messages, cards, drawings and paintings to local care homes in the Rutland area to raise the morale of residents
and staff whilst they were unable to accept visitors due to the
pandemic. “I am always proud of Oakham’s House spirit, but during this ‘remote’ Summer Term it has been magnificent,”
commented Carly Latham, Senior Housemistress “The pupils’ sense of fun, humour, creativity, kindness, respect, support and sense of community really came to the fore.”
Different departments also channelled connections and
community – from Sport sharing an amazing series of ‘lockdown interviews’ with sporting alumni, to Art encouraging and showcasing creativity on their Instagram account. The same spirit of educational innovation, which has seen the School offer the IB Diploma, BTECs, IB MYP and champion
inquiry learning through FOSIL, saw the launch of a new Academic Cornerstone Course during lockdown for those pupils whose examinations had been cancelled. This series of
courses covered academic skills, life skills, and employability skills. Each strand was designed by a team of teachers selected from across several departments, to ensure the course was original and impactful, as well as drawing on the School's wide range of teaching expertise, experience and enthusiasm. “At
its heart, the course taught a variety of skills that are important to pupils’ futures,” says Deputy Head Academic Leo Dudin.
“Showcasing, even during unprecedented times, how an Oakham education focuses on preparing pupils for life after school, equipping them to be intellectually ambitious thinkers, with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to thrive and
Patrick Trower, Estates Manager, washing fabric ‘For the Love of Scrubs’ Simon Rounce from Rutland Plastics making the visors
Tim Weston, Head of Design Technology with some of the new visors
The Lodge Trust receiving their visors
Supporting Our Community During Coronavirus
Oakham’s Design and Technology Department made and delivered an astonishing 30,000 visors for Key Workers during lockdown. We were one of the first
schools in the country to begin to make visors, using our own 3D printers and Laser Cutters. Members of the Design
and Technology Department, as well as a pupil who helped remotely, managed to hone their approach and production line, resulting in an impressive 600+ masks being made each day. After a week working at this rate, they became aware that their efforts weren’t matching the high level of demand, and so Tim Weston, Head of Oakham’s Design Technology Department, worked closely with Rutland Plastics to increase production further. “Rutland Plastics
were able to create custom moulds for the headbands, which was the part taking the longest for us to make,” says
Tim. “They could produce them at a rate of two headbands every 20 seconds; meaning we could take a massive jump in production. We worked collaboratively to get the final design right, so that the visors could be easily and
quickly constructed by our team of 30 volunteers so that we could get the visors to those who need them faster.”
The visors were delivered to hospitals, care homes and doctors’ surgeries both locally and nationally – from across Rutland, down to London and north to Doncaster. “It was donations of key supplies from supportive companies such as Fellowes, and the wonderfully generous donations from across our School, alumni and local communities, that we were able to expand and upscale our production at this time
of great need.” Oakham also proudly supported the local ‘For the love of Scrubs’ team to help make essential PPE for the NHS. As well as raiding the School’s own supply of fabric, Oakham’s industrial washing machines were put to work with the important task of cleaning all the donated fabric prior to it being made up into scrubs. “It was wonderful to be able to offer our practical support,”
says Estates Manager, Patrick Trower who co-ordinated the School’s efforts. “By laundering the fabric, we were able
to speed up the process considerably, enabling a quicker turn-around and allowing those who could sew to spend more time making the scrubs rather than washing and ironing. We were just one small part of the ‘For the Love of Scrubs’ team, but we were proud to be able to do our bit to help our local NHS workers to stay safe.”
Re-Opening Safely
After 25 weeks of Oakham’s campus feeling empty without pupils and staff being on-site, the rejuvenation of School life began in September when the community returned. The School spent a great deal of time and care putting rigorous measures in place to help keep all members of our community safe; our boarding and day pupils, our staff and all those who live and work in and around the
town of Oakham. “The safety measures that we have established were even more wide-ranging than the Boarding Schools' Association (BSA) COVID-Safe Charter that we, like other boarding schools across the country, have signed,” says Sarah Gomm, Deputy Head Pastoral.
Right from the beginning of term, and indeed before term began, there
was a strict enforcement of all quarantine measures for boarders returning to the UK – with some boarders isolating on site before joining their peers. There were also 'safe to return' procedures for pupils and staff that saw daily temperature testing at the start of each day. As well
as, of course, the establishing of pupil ‘bubbles’ – which sees year groups staying together to reduce pupil contact and enable track and trace, should it be needed. Practically speaking, the School now looks a little different with a variety
of well-signed one-way systems in place, along with 170 sanitising stations located around the campus. All pupils and staff were also issued
with a pack of face coverings – in two different colours (black and red) to
enable regular washing. These are now worn when everyone is moving around the corridors and campus during the school day.
There are 170 hand sanitising stations around the campus
One of the new one-way systems in place around the School
Pupils and staff wear face coverings when moving around the corridors and campus
As well as the variety of practical measures to keep the Oakham community safe, the School has carefully organised a ‘new normal’ curriculum. “We have a variety of timetables to ensure the stability of our educational provision and to help pupils to feel confident and ready
to engage in their academic studies,” adds Mrs Gomm. “We want the
School to feel as normal as possible, but recognise that there will be a variety of different scenarios that we could face. We therefore have three
different timetables to ensure we can move and adapt should we need.
There is our ‘normal’ timetable which sees all pupils moving freely about School, an enhanced social distancing timetable that reduces movement across campus and also enables any self-isolating pupils to continue their learning without interruption, and a distance learning timetable in the event of a local lockdown and schools being instructed to close.”
There are some aspects of School life that have been adapted to enable them to continue safely. Chapel services and assemblies are still a key part of the rhythm of the School week, albeit virtually. Dining has been altered to ensure pupil ‘bubbles’ don’t mix. Individual music lessons now
take place face-to-face with transparent screens between teachers and pupils, whilst concerts are a combination of virtual and, where possible to enable an audience to be present, socially distanced. Drama sees pupils back with aplomb on the QET stage, with plays chosen and cleverly directed to reduce physical contact where possible. Sport has and continues to adapt according to government guidelines – meaning that Doncaster Close and all of Oakham’s pitches are alive with the sound of sport once more. Pupils perhaps need a little extra equipment in some
subjects – with their own lab coats and art materials – but otherwise lessons are absolutely back to what is now called, the ‘new’ normal. Pupils have adapted incredibly well to all the new rules and rhythms of School life – they have shown kindness and courtesy to each other and the Oakham community has remained together, even when at times, it needs to be safely socially distant.
