Hi everyone ... Louis here! A new half term here at Junior Jam means pupils get to learn a whole new course with their instructors. One of my main jobs over the school breaks is training our staff so that they are fully prepared for the new subjects they will be teaching.
When I first joined junior jam, I was pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of subjects our staff taught, so training is really important to help our tutors have everything they need to teach. Usually, our local staff come into the main office here in West Yorkshire and we have a big day of training and equipment swapping. With staff all over the country, it’s really nice to see everyone and catch up!
However, we have made our training COVID secure this half term by doing it all via zoom. This way our staff are as safe as possible, and can prepare for their next half term in the comfort of their own home. We had a few sessions with 3 staff members, some with 7, and then even a few hours with 15 staff members all in the same zoom call! I think anyone that’s used zoom this year knows there’s always at least one technical problem that pops up. Luckily we were fully prepared and ready, and didn’t have anyone with bad signal, connection issues or unexpectedly leaving.
It’s really important to me that all staff are as comfortable and confident as they can be going into their lessons. It leaves me assured that those pupils are getting the best possible lesson they can, and benefiting from it. While it is a shame we are not able to see staff as much in the office, it's a great feeling knowing we can help them remotely instead!