We absolutely love the freedom encapsulated in these images from Friday. This is our incredibly talented and hard-working Year 11 Sophie, completing her GCSE Dance Component 1 - performance of set phrase. Mrs Walsh is ensuring her dancers and actors can still perform to the best of their ability and express themselves fully even in these strange times. ... See more

At Ffynone House, we are already moving successfully between various combinations of remote and in-person learning. We feel confident that, should the need arise for any bubble to isolate, our students would continue to follow their timetabled lessons with little or no interruption to their learning.
This week:
• isolating staff have taught live lessons from home to our classrooms via video calls
• isolating students have participated in live streamed lessons with their classmates
• students in school have continued to learn safely in socially distanced bubbles.
We are proud of our consistency, adaptability and reliability in these ever-changing times.

Prospective students from any year group are welcome to attend taster days and our Headteacher is still conducting in-person tours of the school by prior arrangement. Please get in touch today to find out more. ... See more

Two of our Year 12 students find a quiet room, log into Teams and call their teacher who is self-isolating at home. They have their lesson at the allotted time on the timetable, learn exactly the material they would have done if the teacher was physically present and show an independent and mature approach to their learning by facilitating it all themselves. AND one of them only joined us two weeks ago! Super work, girls! ... See more

This collection of images says so much about our current teaching at Ffynone. Mrs Walsh delivers PSHE lessons to larger year groups in the hall. The staging blocks are used as desks and some students work on laptops, others on paper. They are seated around the edge of the room and Mrs Walsh speaks from the centre, encouraging discussion and full participation in these vital sessions. Here, Year 11 work on study techniques and self-motivation tactics. It might look a bit chaotic from the outside, but the concentration on the faces is evident. Our expectations of our students are just as high and the quality of their learning remains excellent. ... See more

Remote teaching a Year 8 English bubble. It isn’t easy but it’s still effective!

At Ffynone, we can always trust in Ms Harvey to make the best of any situation. Despite not being in the Art Room, not being able to share materials, not being able to touch what the students are creating or get close enough to see the detail in their work; our Year 8 students made their own face masks in her lesson this week! Pre-threaded needles helped but credit to teacher and students for this have-a-go attitude and some very impressive results! (We also love how good these guys are at smiling with their eyes!) ... See more

Our upper school students are BACK IN THE SCIENCE LABS!
Today, in a Year 11 GCSE Biology lesson, they investigated experimentally the decomposition of milk using phenolphthalein indicator.
Mrs Munro had the majority of pupils in their form bubble, participating in the real-time lesson, and 1 pupil working from home via a Teams video call.
Here’s the colourful results!
The students found out that the fat in the milk was broken down by lipase the fastest at 50 degrees Celsius, when the enzyme had a lot of kinetic energy, but had not denatured. However, as you can see from the photo on the right hand side, the lipase had denatured at 60 and 70 degrees Celsius, so the fat was not broken down and our pH indicator, phenolphthalein, stayed a rather pretty pink. ... See more

Teachers and students at Ffynone are really missing the informal learning conversations that take place when teachers circulate around students' desks. With the teacher rooted at the front class, it can be difficult to discuss the detail of a task and share ideas easily.
Here, one of our Year 11 students, Umair, resolves this issue by using the chat function on Teams to check in with his English teacher on a task he is completing at home. He bounces ideas around and she encourages him to check all the support materials and develop his thinking further.
Another example of our use of digital technology to mimic our 'normal', positive teacher-student relationships. Brilliant work, Umair! ... See more

Our Year 13 students kept up their studies via live lessons on Teams during lockdown but nevertheless, they have been pleased to get back into the classroom. Our sixth form students are following their normal pattern of study: 6 x 45/60 minute lessons for each subject throughout the week. They must socially distance in all areas of the school and stay within their bubble but many have expressed how grateful they are that things feel as normal as possible. ... See more

Year 9 enjoying their rounders session in Games today. Each year group stays in their bubble and is offered 2 different activities during their session. Today Years 7 and 9 took turns to use the gym and yard and Years 8 and 10 went up to Cwmdonkin Park. We hope to be back in the state-of-the -art facilities in Ashleigh Road soon, it in the meantime, this system is working well! ... See more