Parents at Twickenham School were so pleased with the support offered to their children throughout lockdown they decided to say a special thank you.

Clubbing together, they bought a banner to recognise the efforts of staff during closures, which is now displayed on the front fence of the school.

The school said 85 percent of students regularly logged onto online lessons, which is significantly higher than the national average for state schools and higher than at fee paying schools, according to a study by the Sutton Trust.

Teachers also ran a live classroom timetable via online apps and made weekly calls home to check on students' mental health.

Sarah Brindley, from Twickenham, has two children at the school. She said:

“Because we can’t see the teachers, we thought how can we show how much we appreciate them?

“These teachers have been working incredibly hard, remaking their lessons so they can deliver them online. Ms Ruse and her team are always thinking about how they can make this work for the students

“It has been an absolute godsend and a game changer for our family because the children have been fully engaged in their classes. They are working from 9am – 2pm every day.

Deputy headteacher Sarah Bromly was also grateful, adding:

“As teachers we were completely taken aback by the wonderful gesture from our parents.

“It really means an awful lot to staff at a very difficult time to know that our efforts to make sure students keep up with their learning is appreciated.

“We have had extremely high levels of engagement with our online learning programme. That is down to the quality of the provision but also because of the support of dedicated parents.”