Digital Open Days & Online Learning

Few people living through the COVID-19 pandemic have experienced a crisis like it. As we are so often reminded, these are “unprecedented” times. Society has changed in ways we never imagined it would in the 21st century.

For The King’s School, Canterbury this has meant some drastic changes to the way in which pupils are taught, lessons are presented and how the School maintains a sense of community.

This is, of course, not the first time the School has had to take severe measures to deal with disease or other disasters. In 1575 the plague forced the school to break up early, in the 1630s there was an outbreak of smallpox, 1928 saw an outbreak of scarlet fever which caused Speech Day to be cancelled, and the School was evacuated to Carlyon Bay in Cornwall during the Second World War.

King’s Education Online, the School’s remote teaching and learning programme has been developed to be as dynamic, personal and effective as the classroom teaching delivered each and every day in Canterbury. The same level of creativity and expression that the School values is encouraged as almost every lesson on the timetable goes ahead remotely.

At the heart of a King’s education is the dual pursuit of academic and co-curricular excellence and it is with this in mind that the School is remarkably able to offer some 70 different activities to its pupils around the world during the lockdown. Groups meet for sessions to partake in activities such as cryptic crosswords, writing stand-up comedy, criminal minds, musical theatre, ancient languages and cloud appreciation, to name but a few.

Pupil wellbeing has also remained a central focus during lockdown. A regular wellbeing newsletter curated by one of the academic staff is distributed to pupils and staff. It includes practical tips on how to look after your mental and physical health during lockdown, messages from the Captain and Vice Captains of School and a scheme encouraging pupils to become pen pals of local care home residents.

With the school gates currently closed and the normal Open Mornings on hold, King’s is offering prospective pupils and parents a Digital Open Morning pack which presents a flavour of the School through videos and publications and an invitation to speak one-to-one with the Registrar. To register to receive a pack please visit - https://www.kings-school.co.uk/opendays