Sam and Olivia are both Year 6 teachers at Chesswood Junior School in Worthing, Sussex. While Sam has been back in school with her class since half term, Olivia has continued working from home as she has to take extra precautions due to a medical condition. They’ve shared a glimpse into what their last few weeks of term have been like in a video diary…
Olivia
I’ve been working from home and teaching remotely since March, because I have type 1 diabetes. It’s been a strange time to say the least! I’m working and living in the same space so that has thrown up a few challenges.
I’ve managed to get into the swing of doing video lessons and communicating with the kids online but I’ve really missed being in the classroom! It’s been especially hard being apart from them over their last few weeks and I would have loved to have had the chance to say goodbye to my class before they head off to secondary school. But I’ve enjoyed the challenge of teaching remotely and have found it a positive experience. And I’ve even been able to say goodbye to all my students virtually to wish them all the best before they move to secondary school.
Sam
I went back to teach year 6 after May half term and have had 24 out of 31 children back in the classroom. It’s been a bit different, but the children and I have really enjoyed being together.
For the last 6 weeks of term I’ve been teaching them in two bubbles of 12 - I’ve been working with a teaching assistant who is in one bubble, and I am in the other bubble. It’s worked really well and for some of the foundation subjects I’ll phone the other classroom on Microsoft Teams so that I can teach both bubbles at the same time. We’ve been doing quite a bit of transition work with the children talking about their worries and anxieties around moving on to high school. And of course, we’ve been planning lots of great celebrations to mark the end of their time at primary school, before they leave us to move on to high school!
For more teacher stories watch our YouTube playlist to see what other teachers’ experiences of teaching during the COVID-19 outbreak have been like.