Recordit .co5/16/2023 ![]() ![]() Each pupil continues to follow their school timetable and routine, with live lessons via Teams. Since lockdown, pupils have been expected to attend registration online within their tutor groups at 8.40, just as they would were they in the school building. The use of Teams, together with the school’s existing daily management program, Firefly, has meant that, while the school premises have been shut, the Sibford Education has continued, including the pastoral care for which the school excels. The sharing platform Microsoft Teams, which had initially been designed for business use, was suddenly thrust into our world of learning as a useful tool upon which we could continue daily school life.” Says Anna Jo Mathers, Assistant Head Learning and Teaching, “We were incredibly fortunate to have a parent that works for Microsoft. By mid-March, parents and pupils at the school were already receiving notifications of how the school would function in the event of the lockdown that inevitably came. In March, prior to any formal government announcement of school closures the school was in preparations to remain open and functioning via online platforms should such measures be necessary. On the contrary, perhaps remarkably, the school has simply thrived. ![]() The school was determined not to allow the current COVID-19 pandemic to shut it down, either. Since its inception in 1842, the school has never closed, including during the First and Second World Wars when it remained open to pupils and evacuees eager for a safe and secure education in the countryside. Although we are primarily a day school, our full, weekly and occasional boarding gives further flexibility to many.” Toby Spence, Head says, “The school’s rural location (just over an hour from central London), co-educational approach and strong focus upon pastoral care and values are at the heart of why parents are looking closely at a Sibford education at this time. The Quaker ethos of respecting, nurturing and valuing the individual remains fundamental and underpins what is regarded as a Sibford Education today. Sibford School, which educates children from Nursery through to Sixth Form over a 50-acre rural campus on the edge of the Cotswolds, was founded by the Society of Friends in 1842. But a sense of normality, in whatever format, is of great significance to the school and the music meeting is one of those shows that must go on. There are, indeed, empty chairs at empty tables. For it is lockdown and the school buildings are closed to all pupils with the exception of a handful of children from key worker families. I am watching via YouTube, and Finlay who in early March was singing in the ambitious school production of Les Misérables, is taking part in the meeting somewhere, but not on school premises. The Year 11 pupil is performing in a music meeting at Sibford School, a co-educational independent school in north Oxfordshire. His words, ‘empty chairs at empty tables’ resonate deeply, ‘where my friends will meet no more’. Caroline Mills visited the school to find out more.įinlay’s voice rises to a crescendo, assured, forceful in an instant before softening to a delicately wistful pause. One rural school in north Oxfordshire has bucked the national trend and has grown to it’s highest pupil roll on record during this time of lockdown. However, a number of schools have gone from strength to strength with high numbers of admissions enquiries and indeed growth in numbers at this time. The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact upon the independent education sector with a number of high-profile closures including the prime minister’s former prep school, Ashdown House. ![]() Sibford, the small, rural school bucked the national trend to record its highest ever pupil roll as it continued education and pastoral care during lockdown. ![]() Back in June, parent and freelance writer Caroline Mills, visited Sibford to learn more about how we navigated virtual learning during lockdown and reopened the school safely and successfully. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |