A COLLEGE has spoken about what it has been doing to continue to educate its students during the Covid crisis.

Barton Peveril Sixth Form College in Eastleigh transitioned all of its lessons online during the spring lockdown before welcoming back its 4,000 students for a blended timetable of online and on campus lessons.

Currently, students at the Hampshire-based College have two thirds of their lessons on campus and one third online with a series of safety measures on site to ensure the safety of its students and staff.

This is said to have limited the spread of the virus as the number of students on site at any one time has been significantly reduced, minimising the opportunity for any students with a positive case to come into contact with other students.

Barton Peveril Principal, Jonathan Prest, said: “I have never been more proud of the skills, professionalism and flexibility of the staff at Barton Peveril.

"The onset of lockdown on March 23 compelled all our teachers at Barton Peveril to move from using Google Classroom as a repository of supporting materials, background information, exam questions and course information, to the interactive vehicle through which lessons could be delivered."

"Far from that sad image of students isolated in their own bedrooms, classes could have whole class discussions as well as smaller break out groups with pictures and sound, and opportunities to type into a shared document with a cursor indicating who was writing what."

Barton Peveril has since been named College of the Year in the Edufuturists Awards 2020, and was shortlisted for a national Times Education Supplement (Tes) Award for Outstanding Use of Technology for Improving Teaching, Learning and Assessment, for its use of technology to deliver learning online.

The principal added: "It is no surprise that the College has been nominated for, and won, national awards for our use of technologies in learning, and that several individuals have been singled out and nominated too.

"Perhaps necessity really is the mother of invention?”