To our existing schools, we are proposing to continue providing chess after-school clubs online.
Now that schools are closed, children are missing their friends, and in fact are missing out on socialising and socialisation in an unprecedented manner.
As adults, we are keeping in touch with our friends and families through video calls and conversations.
But that is not how young children socialise. Young children’s interactions can be characterised as ‘playing with each other’ rather than ‘talking to each other’. Many parents will have experienced, over the last few weeks, that their children, when finally given the opportunity to ‘talk’ to a much-missed friend, have fallen mute, monosyllabic, or walked away.
Let them play with each other instead. In fact, let them play chess! We believe that online chess, combined with group video tuition, is an ideal way for children to continue socialising with their friends.
Furthermore, in these times of social distancing and school closures, chess is ideally placed to ‘move online’ smoothly. Already before the current pandemic, millions of chess games have been played online, and sophisticated teaching and learning solutions have been developed.
As safeguarding children is our highest priority, we have carefully evaluated which online chess tools to use.
Online classes will be based on chesskid.com, a platform designed with children and safeguarding in mind.
Video instruction sessions will be held on Zoom. We are aware that safety concerns have been raised with regards to Zoom. We will be applying stringent safety precautions to avoid issues such as ‘zoombombing’. Nevertheless, we will require an adult to remain in the same room as any child using zoom at all times.
Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss the possibility of providing an ‘after-school’ chess club at your school over the next term.