As a provision, we had regular timetabled catch-ups, for students and staff to connect during the lockdown. These regular Zoom catch-ups were very important to maintain everyone's hauora.

These sessions provided opportunities to celebrate birthdays, discuss successes and challenges with online teaching and learning, play games, and share experiences in smaller breakout rooms.

During one of these sessions, we created a Wordle in which staff and students identified one word to describe their week of 'Zoom School’. Words like coffee, family, stressful and fast, featured. This was an opportunity to empathise with others’ experiences.

Another activity was playing Kahoot! Quizzes created by staff and students. The questions were a range of general knowledge about current events and staff and students. These were very entertaining and provided a lot of laughs!

Throughout our lockdown learning, students and staff engaged positively with many students managing and leading their learning with confidence. This week, with the change to level two, our Hillmorton High School Provision day students returned to school with a spring in their step and it was really lovely to connect with everyone face to face.