In June 2020, all our classes returned to full-time education following the COVID19 closures between March 2020 and May 2020. Although we hope that the majority of our children will now have an uninterrupted experience, there is the possibility that we may face a full or partial closure in the future, or an individual child, a class or year-group will need to isolate for a period of time. We have therefore put in place contingency plans for remote learning so that all children can continue with their education. These plans have been devised following a federation level review of our remote learning response during the original lockdown period and are designed to meet the expectations set out in the Isle of Man Government's "Review into the Provision of Remote Learning on the Isle of Man during the COVID19 Pandemic."
Federation Review of Remote Learning Between March 2020 and May 2020
Review into the Provision of Remote Learning on the Isle of Man during the COVID19 Pandemic
We have produced two strands in our contingencies: "Plan A" which is how we intend to ensure that your child's education can continue uninterrupted if they have to self-isolate or isolate with their household. In this scenario, Laxey School remains open and all the other pupils and teachers are still at school as normal: it is your child(ren) absenting themselves from the school.
The other strand in our contingencies is "Plan B" which outlines how we intend to deliver education remotely in the event of a full school closure, or a partial closure where particular classes or year groups are asked not to attend.
When we closed in March 2020, Remote Learning was something new to all of us. Since then, the staff at Laxey School have worked tirelessly in ensuring that if your child is self-isolating or if the worst case scenario happens and the children are learning from home, that their learning continues.
In October 2020 we held a live webinar for our parents where we shared and explained all of our contingency plans. A re-watch of the webinar can be viewed below.
In order to "test" the technology and to ensure that children (and parents!) are familiar with the Zoom platform which will be used as and when "Plan B" is invoked, Laxey School staged a series of "Test Events" in December 2020. These events were live online sessions which the children accessed from home after school hours. The video below explains the rationale for this and gives all of the details.