There were several lockdowns and our approach to each developed as we learnt more about how best to support families and keep on teaching our children. We worked closely with our partner school, Montem, to ensure our response was as robust as it could be. 

We were able to:

• Maintain high-quality, caring provision for a significant number of critical worker and vulnerable children, throughout term time and the school holidays. In the first lockdown, this was all based at Montem school and we ended up taking on children from a third school, Pakeman Primary, who needed our support. We called ourselves the ‘Edventure School’.
• Provide all families with a full schedule of home learning, from the moment we went into lockdown, to its end. Initially, we focused on providing printed packs for children, so that all could access the learning, even if they could not access the internet. 
• Gradually develop our online learning presence alongside the weekly work packs. We did this once we’d got devices and internet connection into the homes of those who needed it.
• Contact all families on a daily basis, through our school app. We set up a daily registration system. If we didn’t hear from families, we called them.
• Ensure at least one phone call a week for all parents and children, about their wellbeing and about their learning.
• Provide ongoing welfare support to many of our families, not least by distributing food hampers and vouchers to them.
• Paint lots of Drayton Park whilst it was fully closed (thanks to the magnificent, single handed efforts of our wonderful Premises Manager Gary Atkinson).

To get a sense of what Edventure School was like in the first lockdown, hear from our children: