The Oxfordshire Hospital School (OHS) has been awarded the Innovative use of technology to influence outcomes award at the prestigious Tes Schools Awards 2019!
OHS staff and friends travelled to the awards ceremony in London
The Tes awards were held in London on Friday 21st June and a very proud team of staff members attended the ceremony where the OHS had been shortlisted for three Tes Schools Awards: Community and collaboration, Innovative use of technology to influence outcomes and Alternative provision (including Hospital Schools) school of the year.
Celebrating their eleventh year, the awards recognise outstanding contributions made by education teams and individuals to help students around the country to succeed, both inside and outside the classroom.
The OHS submission for the Innovative use of technology to influence outcomes award included the use of Virtual Reality in lessons, the ‘Hospital Hubbub’ podcasts and the ‘Robots in Schools’ project – which allows pupils to take part in mainstream lessons and extracurricular activities without physically being in the classroom.
The judges said: “This gives a little bit more light to pupils with a long-term illness, including cancer and those who are terminally ill. It allows them to be with their friends and part of a school community.”
Assistant Headteacher James Shryane collecting the award on behalf of the OHS from comedian Harry Hill and award sponsor Exa’s Simon Eagles
The judges concluded: “Although the standard of entries was extremely high, Oxfordshire Hospital School shone out in the way that it used technology to try to help with a very human issue. A very worthy winner.”
Steve Lowe , Headteacher at the OHS said: “Winning this award provides us with a platform to celebrate the incredible standards that children with medical conditions are able to achieve despite their health challenges.
“Teaching young people with medical conditions is a privilege; pupils with medical conditions can often be the forgotten, invisible children in our education system and even within our society as they generally just get on with things. Staff, our professional partners at the NHS trust and Governors are an incredibly committed group of professionals who work tirelessly to enhance learning opportunities for children with both physical and mental health conditions.
“This award, and being shortlisted in two other categories, will be seen by them as praise on a national stage for the remarkable work that they do. The real winners of this award however are the young people that we work with who provide us with all the motivation we need to maintain the standards and quality of education that we offer.”
Read more about the robots in schools project, ‘Hospital Hubbub’, and the use of Virtual Reality at the OHS.