Friendly robot wins award for helping poorly Northampton children learn from home

Hospital and Outreach Education AP Academy, with a class in Far Cotton, has won an award for its clever classroom robot, which helps poorly children feel like they are in their classroom.

The school, which is an alternative provision academy, was awarded the Best use of Technology gong at the Tes School Awards after they had impressed the judges for its use of technology to help children who are too ill to attend school. The centre has seven settings, five of which are based in county hospitals.

AV1 is a friendly robot streaming live, which sits in class to be the eyes, ears and voice of a child who cannot attend school because of physical or mental health reasons.

Cath Kitchen, the headteacher of Hospital and Outreach Education AP Academy, said: “It’s humbling to win this award when you see some of the other projects we were up against.

“Children in hospital can become socially isolated from their peers and their families but this project allowed us to have a physical representation of the child in the classroom.

"We worked with partners all across the country: 90 of these robots have now been in different settings across the country.

“Hospital education can often be a Cinderella service – this award is so important for us to shout about what we do. It’s so nice to see our sector recognised as an area of good practice.”

The robot has a one-way webcam and a two-way speaker, and can be controlled using a phone or a tablet.

AV1 doesn’t just help the student to catch up on lessons, it lets them interact with classmates and the teacher, enabling them to feel part of the school community and allaying the loneliness that can arise from being at home or in hospital for long periods of time.

The parent of one child, who was extremely ill with cancer, said that when they were using AV1 to join his class, it felt to him as 'one hour of pure joy, when he could be a normal boy'.

It is also taken to grandparents' houses on weekends so isolating children can see and engage with their loves ones and on other occasions it's been taken home by parents of a boy in hospital to interact with their family dog.

Cath added: "We have noticed in Northants that we have had a huge increase to use them. I think people are much more appreciative now because of lockdown.

"For us it's important to highlight that this group of children are entitiled to the same education as their peers but it's not just about education, it's about the holistic side of school.

"Being with their mates and social development - if the child can remain closer to their friends it makes it easier when they go back to school."