It was fantastic to see everyone back and a special welcome to all our new children who joined us at the start of the term: we hope you enjoyed meeting your classmates online and that you’ll feel at home amongst friends very soon.
Our fabulous pupils in all year groups have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into their first few days of online lessons and were brilliantly engaged, the teachers have reported.
"This is a team effort," said Headmaster Martin Barker, "and we are really grateful to the children for being so upbeat and positive this week, and to the parents for their encouragement and supportive messages which we greatly appreciate."
Thank you so much to all staff for helping to maintain morale - much needed and appreciated. It’s also evident that you have probably not had much of a break and have had to work long hours to adapt to ever changing circumstances. How lucky we are to benefit from such a devoted teaching community at Westbourne. Onwards!!
Parent, email
"I just wanted to thank you all for a fun, faultless and foolproof start to the new term, and despite the distinct lack of warning you all had that everything would be online! Many, many thanks indeed, and fingers crossed for the new term. We were both dreading online learning, but my son seems to be contributing, and says how surprised he was today was ok and that he feels happy and content. What’s more, he hasn’t asked me for any help at all whatsoever! Huge thanks indeed.” Parent, email.
The two hour lunch break is genius and does allow a good hour outside as well as lunch. Bravo for that idea!
Parent on Instagram
“A huge thank you to everyone who have made our boys so welcome; teachers, parents and pupils." Parent
Thank you to all of Pre Prep and Westbourne for handling the tricky circumstances last week so well. Mrs Lovejoy has gone above and beyond and has been described as a “saint" by more than one parent on our class Whatsapp - we agree! I hope it gets easier here on in for you all but we really do appreciate all you are doing and all the behind the scenes work that is so clearly going on.
Parent, email
"Absolutely amazing videos in all subjects!!! Thank you. Truly amazing." Parent, email.
Just wanted to let you know how brilliantly the Year 2 online Zooming is going! The teaching is absolutely brilliant. The kids are all happy and engaged and my daughter can work completely independently. Both teachers are totally nailing it. The content is great, well presented, easy to navigate and they both seem to be holding attention for full lessons. They are complete legends.
Parent, email
"I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to you. You are being absolutely amazing! Honestly, you have the patience of a saint and your smile and positivity is shinning through the camera and microphone in our house every day. Virtual teaching must be seriously tough. Thank you for being amazing at it and keeping them going!” Parent, via Google Classroom
We appreciate all the work that is going into keeping things moving and from our side we can say we are very happy with it all. The adjustment you made with shorter lessons and a longer lunch break was definitely also the right one to make, and overall you seem to be getting the balance right. Many thanks for all your great support for the children (and parents!) in this challenging time!
Parent, email