Penybont Primary School Becomes a ClassVR Pioneer School

Building on their success of being a highly respected LearnPad Leader School for the past three years, Penybont Primary was considered to be best placed to become a Pioneer School for ClassVR, the world’s first affordable VR/AR solution designed to give schools everything they need to deliver an exciting, engaging and truly immersive learning experience, whilst ensuring it is fully managed and controlled within the classroom.

Charged with helping to assist in trialling and implementing ClassVR into schools’ lesson plans and building close partnerships and relationships with their wider clusters, Pioneer Schools represent a critically important and exciting opportunity to be a part of the design and development of this cutting-edge technology and to be at the forefront of making ClassVR part of everyday teaching and learning.

Penybont Primary will play a key role in ensuring better learning outcomes and high standards for all students using VR and will help to maintain a collaborative process of feeding back their experiences of using VR in the classroom.

CLASSVR PILOT DAY

Led by Teacher Jemma Evans, Penybont Primary had a pilot day at their school to introduce ClassVR to their students. Using just a few of the hundreds of the curriculum-aligned structured VR lesson plans provided by ClassVR, engagement with her students was instantaneous and the immersive nature of their experiences sparked conversations and opportunities to further explore subjects and topics.

The Augmented Reality lessons and activities helped the children interact with objects in 3D, bringing them to life for maximum engagement.

The opportunity for follow up activities brought their learning full circle and strengthened the positive impact that this technology can have on students to improve engagement and attainment.

Jemma says:

As a teacher, I’m extremely pleased to be a Pioneer School and eager to plan for ClassVR opportunities in order to bring things to life in the classroom. I can see so much potential for many areas of the curriculum. Videos on the internet, apps and computer games, all form a massive part of the lives of the children we teach, so it makes sense to provide these learning opportunities through the use of ClassVR.

The response from my pupils when they first experienced ClassVR was one of great excitement. They were instantly immersed in the experience and free from distraction from their peers. I can immediately engage the pupils and allow them to have a greater understanding. By using ClassVR’s Virtual or Augmented Reality content, I can overcome the challenge of providing experiences that may previously have been inaccessible in school.

Teacher Anna Alford has also been a part of using ClassVR at her school and states:

The prospect of using ClassVR within my classroom is so exciting for me as a teacher. It provides an opportunity to engage and stimulate the pupils in ways that were never possible before and, for many of the pupils, it will enable them to explore places and see things that they may never have the opportunity to experience for themselves in the real world; from looking round the wonders of the world to handling parts of the body.

I am certain that VR and AR experiences will have a huge impact on teaching and learning. As a primary teacher, I am excited to implement it across all curriculum areas – from using VR to explore life in the trenches to handling historical artefacts, the possibilities are endless.

THE FUTURE OF CLASSVR AT PENYBONT

The use of groundbreaking VR is a milestone in education, and ClassVR will enable children to have immersive experiences and empower them to explore and expand their understanding of world around them, all within the safety of the classroom. This achievement of becoming a Pioneer School will help Penybont Primary push the boundaries of education and enrich their children’s lives.

There is no doubt the positive impact VR has with their students, sparking their imagination and engaging them in learning. Penybont Primary are looking forward to being an integral part of bringing this new technology into the classroom, making ClassVR part of their lesson planning and sharing their experiences with other schools.