Curriculum in Iso RELIGIOUS EDUCATION In Religious Education, Term 2 has seen the advent of an unprecedented challenge, due to remote learning. Religious Education is a subject where we can contemplate deep existential questions. We attempt to learn from the lives of saints and scholars, past and present and examine who we are and what the future might hold. As we embarked upon remote learning, one might be sceptical of the possibility of a curriculum, that still offers personal reflection and can accompany students on their journey of faith. Even the name, remote learning, appears distant and isolating. What a challenge for us all, to enable something conducted remotely, to be experienced in a connected, close and communal way. I am incredibly proud of the way the students responded to their online learning. After speaking with numerous colleagues, it is clear that the spirit among the boys remained strong. Students appeared to have had their interest stoked, and this sparked burning questions from countless boys. Google Meets, social streams and emails have provided boys with channels to pose enquiries that they would otherwise often raise face-to-face in class. While the students of St Kevin's did themselves proud, I am also grateful to work with many talented colleagues, who made this possible. When talking about the early Church, St Paul told the people of Corinth that there are many different parts, but all of the same body. Likewise, the talented Religious Education teaching staff, along with cooperative students, have each played their part and came together as one 8
body. The development of resources, the ongoing care and concern, as well as the provision for prayer, have sustained us all. Remote learning has been far more than a challenge. It has also been an opportunity for staff and students to come together, as one body, to develop and grow.
LIBRARY The three libraries quickly transitioned to remote learning this term. After some initial trialling of various methods, every reading class had a live and interactive component, from Prep to Year 9, through Google Meet. This year, we introduced the digital platform BorrowBox to the whole College, which allows students and staff to borrow eAudiobooks and eBooks online. The digital collection has quickly grown, and the boys have adapted to this new format. At Glendalough, students borrowed numerous books before the lockdown and accessed other reading material from StoryBox through the Library Portal Page. StoryBox is a digital collection of around 300 stories which are read aloud by wellknown storytellers. Students continued to complete weekly independent library tasks, which were aimed at being non-screen based. Students checked in with the library teachers by having regular reading catchups online. The teacher librarians at Heyington continued the weekly Crunchie Reading Program remotely using Google Meet together with Google Sheets. This allowed them to connect with students and monitor their reading across all 20 Year 7 and 8 classes.
The Themes and Books of the Week Program continued, and we featured War, Crime and Mystery, Classics and Standalone books. New teacher librarian, Katherine Stevens, did an excellent job creating very interactive presentations and the boys particularly loved the two mystery case studies which they needed to solve. During the lessons, the students would switch off their cameras and mute their microphones and read. Each week, the boys would outline their reading progress, and the teacher librarian would then write back an encouraging comment or ask for further clarification. In addition to reading, there have also been research classes at Years 10, 11 and 12 levels in Biology, Chemistry and Economics. The inaugural Staff Book Club was also launched online for staff to meet in a relaxed forum and chat about great books. The Wider Reading Program at Waterford quickly transitioned to remote learning. Information about new books was introduced, and then the students read for 30 minutes. The students wrote a 100word response on the English teacher's class page social stream.
SCIENCE Switching from face-to-face to online learning. Psychology tells us that learning involves a change in brain structure, which results from experience. Every piece of knowledge we build in our minds requires an experience of some kind. These experiences typically happen in
ST KEVIN’S COLLEGE
