English College staff and students have not only navigated through our second round of distance learning, but also have truly made the most of it in fascinating ways. Drop into online lessons and you’ll see students engaged in teaching and learning that is meaningful and relevant. They’re participating in reciprocal teaching, interactive whiteboard activities, e-quizzes, polling, small-group discussion in breakout rooms, project teamwork, note-taking on work modelled via visualisers and more. Teachers can provide written and verbal feedback on work electronically, as well as give real-time guidance while watching students actually type in a document or collaborate in an online meeting.

In our first lockdown, teachers had only about 48 hours to transfer their practice online, and they did so effectively despite many obstacles; this really is a testament to their professionalism and care for our students. The evolution from the first lockdown to this second bout has been profound, as now we have a revamped Distance Learning Policy, more technological equipment, training opportunities and many weeks of experience to draw from.

Assessment during closure

We have also discussed assessment during remote learning at length, as we want to measure student progress without relying on exams that we cannot provide exam conditions for whilst online. This has led to innovation and variety in how we evaluate student work, and our newly developed guidelines around summative assessment should ensure that we have a firm grasp on student knowledge and understanding despite the absence of formal exams. 

Emily Rankin, Deputy Head (Upper School & Teaching and Learning)

Feedback from parents

We are proud of our ECP community and how students and staff have risen to the challenge of distance learning. Our families seem to concur; some comments from a recent English College Parents’ Association meeting are as follows:

“I feel proud of how the school manages the issue.”

“Thank you to all teachers and staff for doing their best!“

“Thank you for the adaptability in these uncertain times.”

“The school has managed the situation very well. Thank you.“

“I feel very proud of how you all deal with the situation and the issues. Thank you so much for your hard work.“

“Thank you for your very good work with kids.“

“I think the ECP si handling the situation in excellent and effective way, with a lot added value. Many thanks and RESPECT!“

“All teachers adapted very well to new challenges and the management was providing us with excellent feedback through the entire pandemic. Thank you very much for all your effort.“

“Thank you very much for all your hard work!” 

“It is great that you are using the digital whiteboard as well as the method of breaking into smaller groups. Thank you again for all your great work!”

“Thank you very much for all the work done which is even harder during this lockdown. We really appreciate it!”

“Thank you for everything, for excellent handling of the situation, we all keep our fingers crossed:)”

Look at this video to find out more about about remote learning in the ECP community.

Covid restrictions have meant that we have all had to re-think how we do things, including providing careers advice. Here at the ECP, we are continually striving to provide the best possible experience for our students and so we are becoming even more inventive.

ECP Community

The pandemic has shown how supportive the wider ECP community is. Our alumni have always been very willing to advise current students. Normally, we are able to offer sessions with graduates who regularly come into school to talk about their journeys from leaving the ECP to where they are now. Careers talks have ranged from the Diplomatic Service and the medical and legal professions to business and finance and interpreting.

Using Technology

However, Covid has meant that we have had to suspend these live lectures for the time being. But we have thought of a way to use the technology we are all now so familiar with to ensure that students can still receive careers advice from our graduates.

So we have just launched the ECP Careers Video Library.

We asked graduates to record a video, giving a talk about their careers. We were not looking for slick, corporate-style motivational videos. What we want to provide for our students is the authentic voice of ECP graduates, providing a mixture of factual information, a bit of advice and something that will show students what they themselves could be doing in ten or twenty years’ time.

Helping Students

So we are very grateful to the graduates who volunteered to produce the first videos. We have more in the pipeline and hope this will become an expanding, permanent resource for students in the future. So if you are an ECP graduate who would be willing to record a video for the library, we would love to hear from you. As one graduate said “Not only is it helping current students, it is helping my country.”

Although we can’t be together in school, the ECP has still been able to collectively remember those who died serving their country. The theme of the school year is TIME and therefore it was appropriate that Dr Brown, in his address to students at the Remembrance Week assemblies, spoke about how the passage of time affects our view of past events.

The Colours of WWII

He told students about conversations he has been able to have with his parents, both of whom were children during WWII. Both of them remember the colours of this period of history. For his father, the colour of the war was yellow. It is because it was the colour of fires caused by incendiary bombs, which lit up the night sky. His mother remembers the wartime years as being very grey. Everything was rationed and you had to have coupons to be able to buy things in the shops – even food. But when the war ended, it was as though the lights had come back on again. For some, it was the arrival of American soldiers, with their brightly coloured clothes and comics.

Written History

There is now no-one left who was alive at the time of the First World War. We therefore have to rely on written history for accounts of the battles that took place in the fields of Flanders. Of those who fought against the Nazis in WWII, only a handful of veterans now remain.

Poppy Appeal

Remembrance Week is a way to keep their sacrifices alive. At the ECP, we hold annual assemblies during the week before Remembrance Sunday. We sell red poppies for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal. Ex-service men and women make the poppies to support the charity’s work, helping those who still need its support today.

Alexandra Brízová, President of the ECP Student Council, also contributed to our reflections during Remembrance week. Here is her video in which she explains that the poppy was adopted as a symbol of remembrance after WWI. It too meant the return of colour, as the poppy was the first flower to grow again after the battles ended.

Remembrance Sunday

The culmination of Remembrance Week is usually our participation in the Remembrance Sunday ceremony, which is organised by the British Embassy and held in the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Olšany. On this day, we remember all the men and women who fought and died in the service of their country and subsequent conflicts and similar ceremonies take place in every village, town and city in the UK. ECP students play an important part in the ceremony by helping young Scouts, Cubs and Beavers from the 1st Prague Scout Group place religious symbols on the graves of the war dead buried in the cemetery.

Poppy Blanket

This year, we are not able to attend the Olšany ceremony, but this didn’t stop Alexandra from organising a team to ensure that the ECP could still remember. They created this poppy blanket, which we laid on the steps of the school.