Private Schools Pivoted To Enable A Learning Environment For Preschool And Kindergarten Children
Pandemic S Impact On Schools
SAN DIEGO – May 26, 2021 – PRLog — An English/Spanish bilingual Montessori toddler through Kindergarten program excelled in creating a safe and educational indoor and outdoor learning environment during the 2020-2021 Pandemic. The Pandemic’s impact on schools has changed the way parents now look at a private school education for their children.
In San Diego County, traditional schools closed in March 2020. But, La Jolla Montessori School (LJMS) re-opened quickly and continued providing children an excellent educational, social and emotional learning environment.
After some time, traditional schools implemented a virtual home-learning option as a stopgap measure. However, faculty and staff recognized that virtual learning is a visual medium and few possessed the production abilities and facilities to make lessons more visually communicative.
Children and parents enjoyed 2020 together and built stronger family ties. Still, isolation from friends, extended family members and peers upset children’s social patterns, play, activities, routines and the learning process itself.
“Like many private schools, we are small in size but big in building lifetime learners. We moved quickly to reopen. Since we are not a behemoth employing thousands of teachers, hundreds of administrators and millions of square feet in physical plants, it was doable and we moved quickly and avoided disruption,”
COVID-19 showed clearly how education is being reformed and revised. A revamping of new ways to learn has begun throughout academia and for-profit educational firms. The takeaway: schools are initiating ways to help students implement wellness and educational success via:
- In-class refinements and new protocols
- Remote learning
- Online programs & subject matter lessons
- Stronger visual and audio productions and
- Recognizing how important teachers are in every phase of educational strategies and critical operational needs.
LJMS reopened in 60 days and has remained open since last May. Throughout the 2020-21 Pandemic Panic, the school tactically built a different outcome than the overwhelming majority of schools.
Protocols that have fostered a safer in-person learning environment have included:
- A daily ‘fogging’ that deep cleans every interior space
- Spray cleanings after each room have been occupied throughout the day
- Increased hourly hand washings, plus mask and glove use
- Greater use of our out-of-doors teaching spaces
- Eliminating food preparation
- Sneeze-guards and clear vinyl barriers placed on desks
- Elimination of co-mingling of students from different classes.
The Result: More School and More Learning
LJMS proactively solved in two months what took public school districts months more. “Being open since May 2020 illustrates how our students gained months of academic, social and emotional learning time relative to free public schools,” McFarland said. “And the school’s immersive, dual Spanish and English language program continued.”
“LJMS is a leader in early childhood education. Managing the pandemic by implementing effective protocols has proven that,” McFarland continued. “First, we learned all we could. Then, we used that learning to create leadership. Our students attended school as a result. THAT is the La Jolla Montessori School Edge. When considering the Pandemic’s impact on schools, we hope our successful actions will demonstrate value of private school education and how it will benefit their children for a lifetime,” McFarland said.
Watch a virtual tour, then, book either a live online tour or an in-person tour : https://lajollamontessorischool.com/