February 23, 2024
The success of our reopening plan came from our diligence and devotion to our student’s safety and education. Our mitigation plan provided the opportunity to offer in-person classes along with online options. This combination provided the flexibility that students needed for a successful Fall 2020 semester amidst the challenges of COVID-19.
In this post, we’ll highlight just a few of our favorite moments from the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year.
Here are just a few major highlights from our curriculum and learning activities this fall semester, including keeping learning flexible.
One of our first steps was ensuring that our students felt comfortable accessing technology for courses. This included that they knew who to reach out to for assistance. With this in mind, a series of tutorial videos were created by students to assist younger grade-level students with access to the curriculum and the tools required for assignments.
Our school has provided instruction and academic content to account for five days a week since August 17 through a combination of methods, as well as advanced options for students to progress further. In response, we are seeing students take this opportunity and excelling during the Fall 2020 semester.
We have some fully remote students who have decided to use the more concerted time to pace themselves to complete the entire school year of their grade-level by December 18, using the flex days our school built in between Thanksgiving and Christmas break.
In addition, we started school three weeks early and gave students the opportunity to come back to school sooner. Although our intention was to close our doors for in-person learning during the highest risk of illness between Thanksgiving and New Years’, as predicted by health experts, we still gave families the same amount of in-person instruction days as a normal school year. Above all, our students were given the classtime needed to advance their education.
It’s important to us that our students value learning and have fun in the process. That’s why we incorporate the option of field trips both online and in-person. We didn’t want students who were uncomfortable coming in to feel that their education and experience with the class were suffering.
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We have provided live-streams as options for remote students to observe. Also, we create other videos that cover similar content for a collaborative experience.
Additionally, we have offered synchronous and asynchronous possibilities so in-person students can continue collaborating with students at home. This includes online sessions during field trips.
We have offered Place-Based education and collections for families to support parallel experiences if students are fully remote. Place-Based education and activities help students see the value of learning from the land and locations around them.
Students drafted their own island from Pixar’s movie Inside Out based on their perception of their identity. The result was a visual expression of students’ creativity.
It was important to us that our safety plans included trauma-informed training, New Dawn Security Consultant, and First Aid Training during a global pandemic. To prepare for the worst, we included activities for students to prepare for emergency scenarios — including successfully completing fire, lockdown, and earthquake drills. In addition, we provided resources for remote families at home to come up with a safety plan.
Moreover, we maintained communication with public health and medical expert consultants for the newest information on the COVID-19 landscape.
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Renton Prep has listened to the wide range of requests from families and have done our utmost to address everyone to the full extent possible. We heard our staff and provided every possible accommodation requested. We stressed team dynamics while holding and maintaining our promises to our families to keep our doors open as long as health regulations were met.
Of course, we planned well in advance for the prediction of increased cases between Thanksgiving and New Year. Above all, the safety and education of our students is our top priority. We continue to take this pandemic one day at a time.
For more information on our classes and the success of our reopening plan, please get in touch with us. We’d love to answer your questions.
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