Westbourne School, Penarth, has been included in this year’s EdTech 50 Awards list, which honours the most innovative schools that are enhancing teaching and learning across the UK. The highly prestigious list is published annually and celebrates the people and organisations who are shaping the future of British education.

The 2021-22 EdTech list applauds Westbourne for using the pandemic as an opportunity to explore new ways of teaching, new resources and cutting-edge technologies to support all pupils at every stage. Particular praise is awarded for the school’s launch of “Westbourne Online”, its online learning platform, and the subsequent implementation of Google Classroom during lockdown, which ensured the almost impossible feat of 100% live lesson coverage in a single week.

Whilst the pandemic has posed a significant challenge to schools all over the country, with nationwide schools closures and rigorous new protocol disrupting normal school life, Westbourne has thrived.

“Whilst schools have undoubtedly struggled over the past couple of years, Westbourne has come back stronger and more united than ever”, explained Principal Dr. Gerard Griffiths.

He continued: “Our appointment of a Director of Online Learning meant that Westbourne was in a unique position to move to a full online offering immediately, from the very moment that schools were told to close. This was instrumental in minimising disruption to our pupils and their learning, and thanks to advance trialling of new online technology, teachers were able to deliver their lessons as normal so the students did not suffer delays to their education.”

Westbourne School is known for placing a strong emphasis on the importance of personalised learning. The small school environment, where every student is known by name by every teacher, enables staff to support students on a one-to-one basis, ensuring that every pupil is challenged according to their personal strengths and interests.

“Here, teaching is heavily tailored to the individual”, said Dr. Griffiths, “which has been an additional factor in our students’ success over the past two years.”

During lockdown, the school was able to provide intensive online learning for all ages, with older students (Year 3 – Sixth Form) receiving personalised academic support through Google Classroom, and younger pupils (Nursery – Year 2) through Seesaw. Westbourne Online delivered classroom teaching, group learning, and even a full timetable of wellbeing activities ranging from mindfulness, sport, and forest and beach school.

Westbourne was also one of the first schools in Wales to use artificial intelligence and the latest thinking in neuroscience to revolutionise the learning experience for its students. An innovative tech partnership enabled the school to deliver a groundbreaking AI online learning platform during lockdown, which students continue to use to enhance their learning now that they are back in physical lessons. The platform generates mini-lessons to complement their studies in class, with full teacher support. If a student requires guidance in a particular academic area, the platform recognises this and recommends mini-lessons to improve understanding. It can even do this in a cross-curricular sense, for example suggesting English mini-lessons if a student’s misunderstanding of a Maths problem is based on a comprehension error. It also recognises when a student needs to be challenged, recommending limitless supplementary material in the core areas of English, Maths and Science.

Technological innovation is now part of daily life for Westbourne students. Mr Stuart Ayres, Westbourne’s Director of Online Learning, a role specifically created to assist in the effective roll-out of online learning, explained: “AI has become part of the make-up of the school, and we are continuing to use it to enhance learning now that we are back in the physical classroom. In doing so we’ve been able to elevate the student experience at Westbourne to a whole new – and very exciting – level that, undoubtedly, supports our pupils to excel.”