Home learning at Arran High School
We may be into the third month of lockdown, but the work of Arran High School goes on and it has been supporting learning and delivering the school curriculum virtually throughout this time.
Following the departure of Mr Barry Smith, Mrs Susan Foster is currently taking on the role of acting head teacher until a permanent post can be advertised in the new academic year. Mrs Suzie Dick remains the pastoral depute head and the school will be appointing a second acting depute head internally to take on Mrs Foster’s previous remit.
The school continues to operate with all the support systems as before but now delivered through the medium of technology, post or by telephone.
One of the first tasks the high school undertook the week before the school closed was to talk to every student in the school and check who needed support in terms of internet access or access to a device, providing laptops to take home for all students who requested them to enable everyone to access learning on an equal footing.
The school has continued to add to what it provides students in the way of a school experience.
This has included the parent council setting up a Strava club; Ms Acham, the school librarian, running an online book club for first and second year students; sports day being held virtually at the end of June; and the creation of the first Arran High School art gallery to display students’ work. The gallery can be found on the Arran High School Facebook page.
The school is offering students who are moving into the upper phase the opportunity to access the next stage classwork online via either Microsoft Teams and/or Google classrooms.
Though it can’t be there in person, the school would like to help them continue in their learning and have a jump start on the next year’s course work, whether that is National 5, Higher or Advanced Higher.
Something similar is happening with the primary sevens across the island, who they look forward to welcoming to the high school in August. The school has given them access to their own online team and chat online using the same system as the high school and will also be running their usual three-day visit virtually.
An example of what some of the main subjects are offering
is outlined in the article below. The school uses a number of different systems, depending on what system works best for that delivery.
Though all students were helped to log in the past week before lockdown and the systems being used were explained to each year group, where their log in has subsequently been mislaid, the school can reset it if they know about it.
This can be done by emailing the school or via Facebook messenger. Parents and carers are being asked to actively encourage their child to join in with the work and activities set by the teachers on the platforms mentioned. If there are any issues please let the school know to work together to support your child’s learning
The school is also keeping parents, carers and students updated on its social media links on Twitter and Facebook.