Digital teaching and learning at Queen Anne's

Did you know that Queen Anne’s School is a Microsoft Showcase School? Find out more in a Q & A with Thomas Lange our Assistant Head of E-Learning.

What is a Microsoft Showcase School?

TL: This prestigious award acknowledges the extensive digital teaching and learning that is integral to the school’s approach. Queen Anne’s has been a recipient of the award for two years running and this is a great achievement as just 29 secondary schools in the UK are recognised by the tech giant in this way.

How did this come about?

TL: There has always been extensive digital teaching and learning at Queen Anne’s. Its part of our DNA. The use of Smartboards and Virtual Learning Environments were becoming more commonplace and we were seeking a coherent method of delivering digitally enhanced lessons. Microsoft offered us a way to unify our approach to hardware, software and pedagogy and we haven’t looked back.

What does it mean for QAS pupils?

TL: It means that QAS pupils receive the best of digital learning. We now have 22 teachers with Microsoft Expert Status and all our teachers are at Microsoft Innovative Educator level. Pupils experience innovative teaching and learning that is fit for purpose in the 21^st Century and teachers are able to provide support for developing life-long skills including computational thinking, critical analysis and problem solving.

How does it work in the classroom?

TL: In the classroom, each child has a device, we refer to this as the one-to-one scheme, and teachers and pupils can access and interact with all resources in real time through the cloud. A teacher can, for example, share a pupil’s live work on the smartboard for all to discuss. They can even mark the pupils’ work whilst they are working on the document or exercise. We advocate an approach called ‘digital ink’ combining touchscreen, keyboard and a stylus. Pupils therefore have access to all the methods they need, from handwriting their Maths workings to touch-typing as they hear a History lecture. Of course, this doesn’t mean that everything takes place on the screen. In English, for example, paper and pen handwriting and real printed books still have an important place and traditional methods are combined with the digital approach.

What about remote learning?

TL: When the Covid-19 crisis hit we were ahead of the game compared to the vast majority of schools. During lockdown the full academic timetable continued online with very minimal loss of learning-time and pupils immediately had access to their resources through the cloud. In more practical subjects our teachers were equipped with the skills and resources to adapt. Art lessons became tutorial videos in some cases, our Director of Sport could be found doing live circuits around her living room and the Music department developed the QA Sounds podcast.

Over the two full lockdowns we delivered approximately 21,000 remote learning periods and since the return to school in March 2021 approximately 2000 remote hybrid learning lessons have taken place (where some girls in isolation attend remotely). It takes great skill for teachers to be able to teach live in the classroom and support remote learning at the same time and it is testament to talents of QAS teachers that this has been a success.

What’s next for digital learning at QAS?

TL: As a school we are guided by our foundation in educational neuroscience through BrainCanDo and we know that recovery for teenagers post-covid is going to be about a mix of online and offline support. Access to digital learning has to be balanced with time off-screen and time being active and in nature. We want to ensure that learning via digital methods remain dynamic and can be set apart from the passive screen time that teenagers experience in their leisure time. We learned a lot over the remote learning time about which digital elements work and which elements of the screen-free education experience must be preserved.