Masterclass organiser resources – Livestreamed Masterclasses into schools

What are Livestreamed Masterclasses?

Groups running livestreamed Masterclasses arrange online workshops that are streamed into several schools at once, to be enjoyed by groups of students in their own schools. These can be run during school hours (as is common for primary students) or as an extra-curricular club after school or during lunch. Livestreamed Masterclasses offer a way to continue running workshops with several schools in a community even if it is not feasible for them to get together – be that for pandemic, geographic or other reasons.

Please note: These documents are not for use to run face-to-face Masterclasses or for Online Masterclasses that students at school or home access on individual devices, which can be found on our Masterclass Organisers Resources page. 

How do we run Livestreamed Masterclasses?

Students join an interactive online workshop without leaving their own school, under the supervision of their teacher. The Masterclass organisers set up a video conference meeting that all schools and the workshop leader join together. The leader then presents activities and challenges to the schools, relying on the participating teachers to support the students.

Student nomination

The teacher nomination pack (below) is similar to normal Masterclasses, allowing schools to select which students they would like to attend.  You may choose to suggest that schools involve a larger number of students than they would normally send to a face-face Masterclass though the supervising teacher needs to be comfortable that they can support all students during the session.

Supervision

As is standard school practice, a teacher or other appropriate staff member from each school is expected to supervise the students at all times. Additionally, they are expected to uphold the Ri Code of Conduct for online Masterclasses, and play a key role in preparing for and supporting their students' learning. The Masterclass organiser must communicate these responsibilities to the teachers at the time of nomination; for example supervising teachers are expected to:

• Gather all resources required
• Ensure they can join the online Masterclass event and broadcast the video/sound to their students
• Support the students' learning throughout the session
• Act as a conduit between the workshop leader so that students feel they have actively participated and the leader is able to pace the activities accordingly

Organiser documentation

You still need to complete an Organiser Agreement (OA), which allows you to enter into an agreed way of working with the Ri to run Masterclasses. Contact us at the start of your planning process for us to send one to you - completed and returned to us prior to series start date.

• An example of the OA and all general Ri Masterclass Handbooks for running any format of Masterclasses from face-face to online are found on our general Masterclass Organiser Resource page

For aspects of safeguarding and best practice specific to livestreaming into schools:

• Organisers Handbook 2: Masterclass guidance - livestreamed into schools

Please contact us if you would like further training or guidance with any of these elements.

Teacher nomination pack – Livestreamed

These constitute a teacher letter and form, and a parent letter and form. The parent form contains important consent statements that all parents/carers are required to complete. All groups must use these consent statements for Masterclass students. 

Download below:

• Invitation to schools
• Student and parent/carer letter
• Parent/carer consent form
• Teacher nomination form

Code of Conduct

Everyone attending Masterclasses are expected to abide by the Ri Masterclasses Code of Conduct, including all adults in attendance.

Organisers must send the full Code of Conduct to all participating students in advance of the first Masterclass session.

• Masterclass Code of Conduct 

Further notes

All documents and templates are updated and published annually in advance of the new academic year. Please ensure you are using the latest copy. Please feel free to contact us if there is something missing from this list that you think could be useful.

The tools and information shown here are the property of the Royal Institution of Great Britain and are protected as set out in the terms and conditions below. They are intended to support the work of Ri Masterclass volunteer groups and must not be used, shared or reproduced for any purpose other than this. Please do not share this page via social media or with anyone other than your Masterclass group.