AN ACADEMY trust which runs Eden Girls’ School in Coventry has won a silver award in the annual Pearson Teaching Awards.
Star Academies gained the accolade in the Lockdown Hero category for Learner and Community Support which celebrates schools and individuals that have stepped up during the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Across the trust, Star Family Hubs were established in 13 towns and cities nationwide – including Coventry – to support vulnerable children and key workers’ children by providing on-site education during lockdown and by looking after their wellbeing and that of their familiesand the local community.
Star used school kitchens to cook 100,000 hot meals for hungry neighbours and homeless people and provided 7,500 families with weekly food parcels.
A total of 10,000 hygiene packs and 2,500 stationery items were also delivered while Star staff and pupils manufactured 13,500 high-quality items of PPE for key workers.
Star Academies serves communities in areas that have been particularly hard hit by Covid-19 and around 20 per cent of Star pupils have lost members of their immediate or extended family during the pandemic.
Because of this, the Star team felt it was essential that they provided enhanced, personalised pastoral support to its pupils.
At least once a week, all pupils received individual phone calls from their school, and for many pupils these were more frequent.
Star also trained 135 mental health first aiders across schools to support pupils suffering from anxiety and depression.
The wellbeing of pupils was further supported by the training of 100 pastoral staff in the field of bereavement support.
The disruption of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns posed a serious risk to pupils’ education.
Star emphasised continuity of high-quality learning throughout the pandemic.
Pupils received live streamed lessons on a daily basis in all subjects so that they continued to make progress.
Around 5,000 devices (laptops and tablets) were loaned to pupils so that they could easily access their learning at home.
Pupils and parents told schools that they were highly impressed by the quality of their remote learning.
As well as the silver award, Star Academies has been shortlisted for one of 15 Gold Awards which will be announced later this year in a BBC broadcast.
(Mufti) Hamid Patel CBE, Chief Executive of Star Academies, said: “This award is a wonderful celebration of our dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly throughout lockdown and beyond. Many Star schools are located in areas of deprivation which have been seriously affected by the pandemic.
“As a consequence, our teaching and support staff have worked with enormous commitment to ensure that pupils remain safe and well and are able to continue to access an excellent education.
“The pandemic has demonstrated that despite recent adversity, the Star family is united in its desire to achieve the very best outcomes for pupils.
“We want our pupils to emerge from these difficult times thriving and ready to seize the many opportunities that await them as they begin the next chapter of their lives.”
