Top of the class for St Mary's remote learning experience

An independent survey conducted by RSAcademics highlights a positive response from parents at St Mary's Junior School, Cambridge to remote learning provision during the coronavirus lockdown.

St Mary's took the leap to remote learning for the first time during the COVID-19 school closure. Senior leaders were keen to measure the performance of this new approach, in terms of providing the same excellent, challenging and innovative education girls experience in school.

A free RSAcademics parental satisfaction survey has provided a clear picture of the parental experience. Overall the findings are very positive:

• 91% of parents rated communication about online learning as good (compared to a sector benchmark of 63%)
• 85% of parents rated the School's response to COVID-19 as good (compared to a sector benchmark of 54%)

Regarding their daughter/s:

• 96% of parents said they had work set for them every day
• 83% felt the level of work set was 'about right'

One parent commented:

"As ever St Mary's Junior School have gone above and beyond our expectations under extraordinary circumstances. As close to a seamless transition as we could have hoped. They have typically embraced the situation and used it as a positive learning process rather than an inconvenience, despite the obvious difficulties and disruption to "normal" school life. The teachers and other staff are to be highly praised do their calm, structured approach and for their stable, reassuring presence for the girls."

The sudden move to remote learning required a swift, resilient approach from teaching staff. As Matthew O'Reilly, Head of Juniors notes: "Our innovative and dedicated teachers have worked tirelessly to ensure teaching and learning can continue. The positive findings of this survey is credit to their hard work."

A key aspect of St Mary's educational ethos is about developing strong parent partnerships. This has been central to the success of remote learning, as Matthew O'Reilly reminds us: "The success of the past two months has relied on the strong partnerships we have with our parents. I would like to thank parents, for the deep committment they have shown to enabling their daughters to continue to make progress, despite the current challenges."

Another parent explained how much students are enjoying this new way of working:

"I think St Mary’s has responded amazingly well to the current situation and have provided the best of all the home education I have seen from other schools. My daughter is feeling very engaged and enjoys the lessons and I have also found it a surprising pleasure to listen in sometimes and get a feel for what she’s doing."

Whilst the St Mary's team look forward to welcoming girls back into school, they are delighted that for now, the school is still #stillStMarys and still learning.

Remote learning at St Mary's

Learning in Junior School