Following the parent meeting held last month, some parents joined us in wrapping October with an insightful discussion. The September meeting proved to be helpful in shaping the future of UK Virtual School. The feedback was phenomenally positive and we have collated it into a short video:

We also discussed how our policies have been updated to ensure learning is maximised and to better align the core values of UKVS with the families who attend:

• Cameras to remain switched on during interactive classes
• The importance of punctuality (including what will happen with late students)
• We are firm in maintaining inclusivity – aggressive, rude or discriminatory behaviour from parents towards staff or students warrants an automatic withdrawal from our courses. 

For a full list of our expectations, terms and policies, please click here.

We discussed the 5 main ideas that came through September’s meeting which are now being materialised. If you missed out and were wondering what changes will be taking place, have no fear as we sum up the main changes below:

1. 1. Flyers: All our families are homeschoolers and the nature of homeschooling communities is recommending a good resource with fellow homeschoolers. One thing mentioned in September’s meeting was the lack of marketing literature, making it difficult to recommend UKVS to friends and family. We listened and have produced a concise flyer for you to share. Download and spread the love 🙂
   2. Feedback/Communication portal: We are now implementing a tool that will allow parents to receive direct feedback from teachers. October’s meeting indicated parents would like this utilised as a means of communication between student & teachers. 
   3. Meet the teacher: We’ve had frequent requests to meet the teachers. We’re exploring the possibility of introducing the teachers to families in the group, old and new, each month. This month, the parents met the popular KS3 Physics teacher, Ant!
   4. Social clubs: We’re excited to introduce social clubs into UK Virtual School. Students will have more time to interact with their peers, forming friendships. The variety of social clubs will also allow them to explore new learning opportunities outside the core subjects. The range of activities is expansive. It will be set up as an optional monthly extra, where students can book tickets in multiples of 3. Each ticket allows entry to one Social Activity from the Social Club Calendar. For November, we will feature Public Speaking, Book Club, Arts & Crafts, Dance, Journaling, and many more. This will surely excite the students!
   5. Monthly Overview: Last month, parents also highlighted that they would love to have a monthly overview of what’s to come so they can better support their child at home and arrange trips and activities that better align with topics covered in class. This will now be available from November!

We took feedback from parents on our new branding. See our recent blog about our rebrand for more information.

There were many interesting comments and suggestions in yesterday’s parents meeting which nicely take our improvements to another level. In the coming months, we will continue to work on these new suggestions. It’s been a great help to have a parent’s perspective. The October parent meeting gave our team a clear insight into the new changes we intend to implement.

• • New parent/student Induction: Zoom is the most essential tool we are using. Some families have had trouble setting this up or they may have trouble accessing homeworks or other resources. We had a great suggestion to run training for new families when they join. This would ensure a smoother transition to online learning. This option will be available from this month – keep a look out for an email.
  • Internal FB group for parents: We are now planning to have a separate FB group for parents whose children are officially enrolled to UKVS. This will allow families to engage in discussions, share suggestions and reach out to each other to engage their children outside of lessons.
  • Portal update: We will continue to optimise the portal to better understand and improve on the communication dynamics between parents, children, and teachers.
  • Monthly overviews/plans: We are now working on giving monthly coverage of lessons to parents whose children are officially enrolled. This gives parents opportunity to gauge expectations for the month. We will be adding checklists as suggested in October’s parent meeting so this becomes a more useful resource for families.

October has been a brilliant month! We’d love to hear more from the parents in this collaborative experience. Together, parents, students and the team UKVS, can work together to mould a school that has lots to offer. Our customer service team will remain open to attend to your messages. We’re all very excited for November and the coming months ahead! Look out for the social club information!