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Spare places could help us all to ‘give a bit back’

Hilary Pauley, principal of Milton Keynes Preparatory School, says private schools have an opportunity to give back to the community in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

THERE are those companies who were overrun during and post the pandemic and could not deliver their services fast enough. And there are those who find themselves with capacity to give more.

Schools have been working hard to enhance their VLE platforms and to empower their staff to embrace the teaching methods needed to offer good quality home learning

Parents ran with home learning for a while, simply because there was no choice. However if they wanted to be teachers then that would be their job. 

They don’t. They really, really don’t.

 Most now appreciate and understand that the role of the teacher has many more layers than ”talk and chalk”. We can Zoom and Edmodo to our hearts content but it’s the feedback, the evaluation and the correct next steps that are so important for our children to progress at the correct rate.

The novelty of our Zoom sessions lasted the course of closure, nearly, but how much better to interact in person with your teachers. How much better for children to mix socially with their friends. How much better for you not to have to be financial provider, parent and teacher all at the same time, in the same room.

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The VLE is a great tool and now has a much firmer place in our offering, particularly for homework. A substitute for face to face teaching however, it is not unless circumstances make it the only option. The VLE’s use globally in all sorts of scenarios will only have got better, through recent improvements both in software and content.

Those of us in the fee-paying sector need to reflect. Places for older children may well become more popular as parents consider their options going forward. However we may all have spare places now, particularly for younger children where parents are still very cautious.

Spare places cost us nothing. How can we help? A spare place in each class could help us all to “put a bit back”

We could perhaps find:

  • Places for children of NHS and front line staff who have all been such selfless heroes/heroines;
  • Places for young people with a child who are now wanting to step on to the job ladder;
  • Places for people who find themselves without jobs suddenly;
  • Places for companies as a benefit for staff;
  • Places for single parents.

Let me count the ways…

Please talk to us. We want to help. We want to put a bit back.


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