Westminster’s Response to COVID-19

Westminster’s Response to

COVID-19

Westminster School, known for its progressive and innovative ethos, met the challenge of COVID-19 with the same commitment to excellence that drives all aspects of a Westminster School education.

With only days to prepare, lessons were moved entirely online. Pupils have responded with Westminster grit and determination, with some overseas pupils in different time zones waking up to to be in class and contribute.

The Head Master, Patrick Derham, has said the following: “These are extremely challenging times and Westminster School remains determined to do all it can to continue to deliver an excellent education, while ensuring that the safety, health and wellbeing of its whole community remain paramount.”

Teachers, housemasters and heads of departments all went above and beyond to ensure the provision of holistic online classrooms, and parents have praised the School for the quality of teaching which is being provided remotely.

Of course, there is sadness for the pupils who will miss out on the opportunity to sit their final exams, enjoy their Leaver’s Ball and experience that final service in Westminster Abbey. However, these same pupils now know that they will be able to meet any future academic and professional hurdles with the flexibility and resilience that this pandemic has necessitated.

Virtual Abbey services and addresses from pupils, ensure that the sense of community which is so crucial to the full Westminster School experience, have also been a wonderful success.

Pastoral care has not taken a back seat, with the usual safeguarding and wellbeing measures being made a priority in these particularly challenging times. The School immediately recognised the need for a strong emphasis on pupils maintaining mental and physical health and encourage the use of a range of online resources, to help them navigate the world that they now find themselves in.

Outside of the classroom, the School has also been supporting it’s local community, with PPE materials from the Hooke Science Centre being donated to local hospitals, and staff who live in and around the School site volunteering to help pack masks for frontline workers.

Additionally, in response to the pandemic, the School created the George Herbert Fund; a fund which will provide financial assistance to those pupils whose families who have been significantly impacted as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. This fund will ensure that all current pupils are able to continue their education at Westminster, and donations which have already been made to the Fund, are gratefully received.

Whilst we shall all remember this time as one of uncertainty, panic and loss, we shall also remember it as a time of unity, resilience and cooperation; an overwhelming example of the phenomenon that is the Westminster spirit. ■ There have been incredible acts of generosity during the 2.6 Phestival; a re-imagining of the London Marathon to support Phab. Challenged with completing tasks, physical and mental, in increments of 2.6, pupils and staff have cycled, run, rowed, recited Pi to 26 places and even completed a 2.6 mile Ministry of Silly Walks style trek across London to support the cause. Our very own Jim Allchin is the inspiration for the 2.6 Phestival as he ran 66 laps of Vincent Square on the 26th of April (equivalent distance of the marathon).

Donations to the George Herbert Fund can be made here:

www.westminster.org.uk/ support-us