One young person at Prior’s Court is now benefitting from remote teaching via Zoom, thanks to joint working between the young person’s parents and our education staff.

Young person Ewan is currently living at home with his parents during the nationwide lockdown. His parents made this choice to keep Ewan at home as, currently, Prior’s Court has had to temporarily suspend visits home by our young people as part of wider coronavirus prevention measures.

To help ensure continued learning, Ewan’s teacher, Claudio Vilella Moreno, and Education AP Faye Gray have been delivering twice-weekly lessons over Zoom, with Ewan’s parents Joanne and Kevin playing an active role in the sessions from home.

Claudio puts together sessions including Attention Autism, stories based around yoga, cooking, science experiments and singing, along with Functional Academics learning and physical exercise sessions, such as the online sessions run by fitness instructor Joe Wicks.

Bonsai class teacher Claudio sends in advance the activities, materials and schedules needed to Ewan’s parents, who then join Ewan in taking part in the sessions with Claudio or Faye.

Claudio said: “At the beginning, we were not sure how it could work but after the first session, things have really clicked. We have tailored the sessions to be based around Ewan’s interests and what he enjoys to help him make the most of the lessons, while retaining key learning topics such as maths, for example.

There are some things in class which we cannot do, such as sensory stories. But it has been brilliant to see how much we can actually successfully do virtually.

“The sessions benefit Ewan by keeping him connected to Prior’s Court and his learning, and it is nice for me to be able to see him.

“Ewan’s parents have been fantastic – they are really involved in the sessions which helps Ewan to focus and engage, and they have contributed massively to making these sessions a success.”

Ewan’s mum Joanne said: “Ewan really looks forward to the sessions – it makes him feel like his older brother by doing schoolwork from home. It is actually something we, as parents, look forward to also as they are such fun, interactive sessions it breaks up our lockdown experience.

“The sessions are great for Ewan’s speech and language as we now see him be more talkative to other family members when we have video calls.

“We really appreciate all the effort Claudio puts in. His fun and energetic personality really holds Ewan’s attention for the session and there are many smiles and giggles as we go through.”