Although, like so many other endeavours, Pathway has been badly interrupted by COVID-19 and the year has not begun as we would have wished, we are optimistic that we shall now be able to pick up the pace and make up for lost ground.
Conscious of the fact that the children would be provided with online teaching by their schools, and that the Thomas’s teachers who deliver the Pathway lessons were stretched by their own daily online teaching commitments, we decided not to attempt any remote Pathway sessions. However, each child was sent a copy of the reading book ‘Boy’ by Roald Dahl with some suggested writing and drawing activities in preparation for our first face-to-face lesson. They were also given full access at no cost to the Atom Learning platform which provides lessons, practice and targeted homework in Maths, English, Verbal and Non-verbal Reasoning.
With the news that schools will open on March 8 we are preparing to hold our first Pathway in the Summer Term, including a meeting for parents with representatives from independent senior schools which offer bursaries.
The Thomas’s teachers who have been involved in teaching the Pathway children have hugely enjoyed the experience and have expressed their admiration for the enthusiastic participation and intelligent response of the group. In every session the children receive lessons in Maths, English and Science along with one other lesson which could be PE, Art, Drama or Music. All these are taught by specialist Thomas’s teachers. The Head of Science, Sean Roberts, has been a stalwart of the team from the beginning and his exciting lessons in the science labs never fail to enthral. In all subjects it is evident that the children meet new material and new topics, learn and make progress in every lesson.
Last year we ran a two week Summer School to help make up for lost time through the lockdown. It was a great success and we would love to be able to offer the same this year.