Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury college tutors keeping students learning amid Covid-19 crisis

Tutors and staff at Shrewsbury colleges have been coming up with innovative ways to keep students studying and helping vulnerable learners.

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Shrewsbury Colleges Group London Road campus

Shrewsbury Colleges Group (SCG) quickly rolled out a home learning plan for all students after the government closed schools and colleges amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Teachers have been teaching via online delivery in 16-19, adult and apprenticeship courses, and the college has also purchased licenses for internet resources such as MathsWatch to progress maths skills.

All vulnerable students and their primary caregivers were contacted so the college could ensure they were either safe at home or going into the college to be looked after.

Vulnerable students are continuing to be supported in college where necessary, with staff identified as key workers helping them.

The college has continued to pay bursary fees to students as well as money in lieu of the free college school meals they normally would have received, and students have been assisted in accessing free meals.

The college is also providing support for other students in the local area. A section of the SCG website has been dedicated to providing learning resources to help Year 11s prepare for the next steps in their education.

James Staniforth, principal of SCG, said: “The college may be physically ‘closed’, for the majority of staff and students during these unprecedented times, but we are very much open in every way possible.

“We have taken the advice to close, apart from providing essential assistance to some of our vulnerable students, and our IT department has worked around the clock to establish remote working from home.

“Our students and staff are our priority and we are doing everything we can to make learning and working from home as simple and stress free as possible. We are communicating with everyone on a daily basis as remote ways of working are established and improved."

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