Supervised Learning at Parkhall

This week we gain an insight into Parkhall Primary School, Antrim courtesy of Principal, Stephen Bailie.

Their story so far ….

We have become a hub for the local area, currently we have 11 schools, mainly from around the Antrim and Randalstown Area. The schools in the cluster are Parkhall Primary School, Round Tower Integrated Primary School, Groggan Primary School, Ballycraigy Primary School, Six Mile Controlled Integrated Primary School, Steeple Nursey School, St. Comgall’s Primary School, St. Joseph’s Primary School and St. Benedict’s Primary School. We are also supporting pupils from St. Brigid’s Primary School, Ballymena and Slemish College that have sought a placement through the EA Key Workers placement.

Initially when I discovered that schools were to close, I discussed with staff how we could remain open to support our families with key workers. In all instances the staff were and have been supportive in this role. We have a rota of two members coming into school one day in every six. I have been delighted with the committed professional response to supporting key workers from my staff and also their dedication in supporting online learning for our families.

In Antrim and Randalstown, we have a strong school partnership known as Moving Forward Together, MFT for short. It was through this partnership that a request was made to Parkhall PS to support a school that was unable to open due to health and safety issues. This was followed by a request from our Shared Education partner school, that they needed support and we were delighted to be able to help. It seems a long time ago, but it is only four weeks since I was receiving initial calls from families, EA representatives and other principals, and I was very happy to be able to accommodate the requests. We have grown from an average each day of 12 to 24 children from 11 schools and staff from 7 schools supervising the children.

The children have adapted well to the new normal and life in our supervised learning environment is relaxed and enjoyable for all. The relaxed day, starts with Just Dance, Joe Wicks has been usurped, followed by learning activities.  At break time we encourage the children to play for longer outside, followed by more learning activities. In the afternoon there is further play outside and we finish the day with a DVD on our big screen. 

We have had support from Round Tower Controlled Integrated Primary School PTA who have provided refreshments and resources for the children, as well as Tesco in Antrim providing some snacks for the children. The local PSNI called into school to talk to the children about their role and left some goodies too.

4 May 2020