THE executive head teacher at a Derby special school has praised the work of an award-winning city charity for their help in providing valuable additional resources during the Easter fortnight.
Clive Lawrence, executive head at St Giles School – the city’s only special primary school – says that he is ‘extremely grateful’ to the support the school has received from Derby County Community Trust; the charity arm of the football club, which has been providing free educational resources for primary schools in the city during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Lawrence singled out sports coaches Zack Yates and Andy Bromyard, who have been helping with craft sessions, playing board games with pupils and helping out at lunch time.
He said: “The Trust put out an offer of help and support to special schools in the city during what would normally have been the Easter school holidays. We jumped as this fantastic offer, as their coaches are familiar with our staff and pupils.”
The UK Government took the decision to close all schools in England on March 20 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
However, St Giles School – the city’s only special primary school – has been offering an alternative care provision for families with very exceptional circumstances and those whose parents or carers are frontline key workers.
For the majority of pupils who usually attend St Giles, the school continue to follow the government advice of, where it is much safer for children to be at home, then they are provided with home-learning resources by staff who continue to work hard behind the scenes.
Mr Lawrence added: “As a school we have worked with Derby County Community Trust for some years now, mainly as part of our PE lessons and to promote healthy living activities. We are currently involved in their LiveWell programme, a joint initiative through the NHS and Derby County Community Trust, which promotes healthy living amongst children and young people.
“I am always extremely grateful to Derby County Community Trust for providing our school with two sports coaches during a time of challenge and uncertainty for the school and the country as a whole.
READ MORE: St Giles School is top of the class when it comes to learning outside the classroom
“Zack and Andy were truly exceptional; they went above and beyond their duties to help support our pupils who really need to access care provision at this difficult time. This is either because their parents are frontline key workers or for other very exceptional circumstances.
“Due to our pupils having Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), Zack and Andy were very flexible and accommodating, often supporting children beyond sports coaching sessions.
“The staff at St Giles have overwhelmingly praised them both for their efforts and our pupils really enjoyed having them around.”
St Giles regularly access provisions made available by Derby County Community Trust (DCCT), which was named the EFL’s Midlands Community Club of the Year 2020 in March.
In 2017 and again in 2018, several members of the St Giles School staff– Clive Lawrence, Rob Sherwood, Karen Toulson, Laura Taylor and Beth Rogers, plus pupils Callum Harrison, Declan Taylor and Daniel Flood – visited Kenya with the Trust, to see what life is like in the Rhonda slum areas of Nakuru.
READ MORE: St Giles pupils travel to Kenya to help children at local school
This was a highly-ambitious project for the school and the Trust, with leaders at St Giles doing everything they can to make it possible, and to give children with Special Educational Needs an experience of a lifetime.
The pupils spent time in a local school while members of staff volunteered their services in what was described as an “eye-opening” and “uplifting” experience.
During the Coronavirus pandemic, DCCT have made all of their resources available to primary school pupils free of charge.
Lauren Asquith, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager of Derby County Community Trust, said: “We are honoured to have supported St Giles through an extremely difficult period. It is so important for Derby County Community Trust to support our community.
“We are so glad to have provided two coaches with specific SEND experience to make a difference to staff, pupils and the families at St Giles.”
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For further information please contact Kerry Ganly on 07734 723951 or email [email protected]
