Welsh Water adapt to home-schooling

During the first national lockdown, and the school closures that accompanied it, the sight of a parent sitting in a work meeting with a six-year-old child clambering onto their laps to add some extra perspective to the discussion, became quite familiar. Once again, we find ourselves back in a position where parent’s ability to multi-task is key, as they attempt to balance work commitments with the task of teaching children ‘the history of the Iron Age Celts’ – all the whilst desperately resisting the urge to answer ‘Yes’ to the question “If I answer the next bit, can I have biscuit?” In truth, teaching is a tough gig at the best of times – and I have been in awe of parent’s resilience during this challenging period. 

At Welsh Water, we have responded quickly to the recent shift in approach. For those most familiar with our provision, we traditionally deliver face-to-face outreach in schools and at our centres.  In the absence of any scope to carry out those activities, we switched to a digital approach. Pleasingly, our live virtual education trial was very well-received by schools – with over 3,500 pupils taking part.  As the focus teaching and learning once again shifts across Wales, the team have further adapted the approach as we continue to deliver learning opportunities for the next generation - and offer a helping-hand to parents.

One of these activities included a series of internal online sessions, open to our colleagues and partners and led by our seconded teachers. With 100 children participating, the first one-hour session titled ‘From Source to Sea’ was a hit.  It bodes well for the next two planned sessions on ‘Being Wise with Water’ and ‘Let’s Stop the Block’. I won’t mention too much about that, suffice to say that colleagues and children will be thrilled to learn about DCI Tina Toilet’s investigations into sewer blockages! 

Beyond these internal sessions, there is a whole host of extra packs in the pipeline (pun not intended) – building on the wealth of existing educational electronic resources available on the website. Most notably, keep an eye out for an easy-to-use week-long plan of activities for 7 – 11 year olds focusing literacy, numeracy and thematic skills & knowledge each day. We’ll also have a Foundation Phase pack coming your way shortly and will be looking to work with schools to deliver with fun and engaging content as part of their blended learning approach.