In response to the Governments closure of all schools in the UK as we continue to fight COVID-19, this week Znaniye moved all our classes online.
Znaniye Russian School has now been running for 17 years, and we are incredibly passionate about the work that we do with our students - so whilst we know the closure is entirely necessary, and the safety of our all team and students is our main priority as always, the prospect of having to move online was a shock.
Thankfully, as the only Russian School with our own fully developed curriculum for all ages (3-18) it meant that with the incredible hard work of our teachers out of school hours, we were able to transition with ease, and provide them with endless resources.
Znaniye staff and teachers worked all week prior to the closures to ensure we had options in place so that no lessons had to stop, and we could effortlessly continue teaching.
Our teachers have worked around the clock with our team to learn different programmes, and practice in anticipation for the weekend's lessons - from all logging on and practising as students themselves together late on Friday night, to preparing all the materials and homework. This meant that come Saturday morning - Znaniye was ready to go!
It was an absolute joy to watch the students come in to their online classrooms on time, and learn to navigate the systems with such smiles on their faces. Students of course also quickly figured out how to pretend they couldn't hear teachers, and many laughs were also had in each session, as with our usual classes. The students enthusiasm to learn online and try their best was incredibly heart warning for us all to watch, and even more so our parents willingness to sit with younger students and help them to adapt.
Whilst this is not our 'standard' or 'normal' way of running, nothing is this time of uncertainty seems to be normal, and each day seems hard to navigate; However, we hope that by working together as teachers and parents we can not only continue to maintain students education, but also provide a welcome distraction for them at this time.
Whilst we do not know how long this will last, what we do know is that Znaniye will always strive to do our best to continue and stay strong. We are immensely proud of the community that we have built and are a part of; the out-pour of support has been astonishing.
