As home learning comes to an end and pupils return to classrooms the pupils and staff at Oare Primary School will be able to reflect on the many virtual travels around the globe they have participated in during lockdown.
Using the immersive learning platform Lyfta to facilitate story worlds, the children travelled to Cornwall, Berlin, San Francisco and Kabul to meet the people who live there, as well as learning about the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the process.
Each class had a trip that lasted a whole day with a virtual bus trip, exploration of the destination together, independent activities to explore and a ‘live’ baking or making session with their class teacher.
Principal, Gudrun Osborn, said, “Part of the fun of a school trip is the social element and pupils bonding with their friends, so with this in mind the pupils were allowed to use a live chat thread on TEAMs to ensure they could share their experience in real time, as well as the social opportunity to meet up for lunch for a proper chat in a more relaxed atmosphere to our usual daily ‘live’ teaching sessions. We even had singalongs on the bus and our youngest children got to eat a picnic on the beach together and have an ice-cream! I am sure that the children will never forget these trips – I certainly won’t.”
The school was lucky enough to receive donations of laptops from the Colin Lampard Trust and Wiltshire Digital Devices early in lockdown, which meant that every child could access a digital device almost immediately. This not only meant they could all access the school trips, but they could access the twice daily ‘live’ sessions throughout lockdown, as well as the pre-recorded input from their class teachers whether they were in school or at home.
More about Oare Primary School’s virtual school trip adventures and their ‘We Care’ curriculum can be viewed by following the school on Twitter @OareSchool
World Book Day fun at Kennet Valley School
