How Co-op Academy Walkden Embraced Remote Learning to the Benefit of Students and Educators during the Pandemic
In this piece Joshua Mangas of Co-op Academy Walkden takes us through the details of the Xello rollout, and how it’s proving to be exactly the solution they were looking for.
Hello Joshua! Tell us more about how your unique role has had a positive impact on your ability to bring Xello to your academy, especially during the lockdown caused by COVID-19.
“It’s true, I hold a very unique role at Co-op Academy Walkden. I’m a Senior Leader with responsibility for Participation & Engagement within the Academy, I lead the Careers, Community & IT Communication side of things here. What this means practically is that I have a degree of autonomy in decision making as well as the technical knowledge to execute on the data integration side.”
School
Location
Problem
Solution
What specifically did you like about Xello?
“I saw Xello’s potential from the very first demonstration. I like the personality quiz and the depth of the career profiles is remarkable–everything is there for the students to explore.
From a safeguarding point of view, I’m also reassured by the security of Xello, it’s a closed circuit and very safe for children.”
Tell us about the first steps you’ve taken to ensure a successful rollout.
“We believe in a whole-school approach to delivering our careers education provision at Co-op Academy Walkden. So I started by emailing all of our students to introduce them to Xello, and I can already see that many are actively using the product.
I really focused heavily on year groups 7, 8 and 9 to begin with. The earlier we can encourage our students to use Xello, the more information they will have to inform their post-secondary choices. Engaging our students early on also has the advantage of providing the school with more information about the likes, dislikes and interests of the student body; this will help us tailor our provision as the students progress through our school.
For our older year groups, I plan to focus on specific goals and activities to provide a more tailored experience that will really prepare those students for life after school.
Interestingly, you would think that onboarding to Xello, post-lockdown and entirely remotely, would be more challenging, but that’s not been the case at all.”