Introduction

As part of the DFE’s ‘Wider Recovery Package’ to support children in catching up with missed learning, Joseph Leckie Academy offered a blend of academic and enrichment activities in the Summer School.  The Summer School was open to all students transitioning to Year 7 (between 26^th July – 6^th August 2021).  The Summer School took place at the Academy everyday between 10:00 – 14:30 and a significant emphasis was placed on supporting with both Literacy (English) and Numeracy (Maths) skills.  Furthermore, summer school provided students the opportunity to improve their mental health and emotional wellbeing, as well as opportunity to meet the Head of Year 7 and forge friendships with new peers.

To ensure the success of the Summer School:

• The Summer school was widely publicised to all primary schools via email, social media and letters home. 
• Students identified by primary school who would benefit from the Summer School were additionally contacted by Academy staff.
• Transport was provided to a student who would otherwise not be able to attend.
• Free meals were provided to all students attending each day. 

The Summer School was staffed by Academy teaching staff, Teaching Assistants, an external primary school teacher and sixth form volunteers.  Two students who attended were EHCP students and the Academy ensured designated Teaching Assistants was available to each to ensure we were meeting the requirements of the EHCP.

Activities on offer

During the two weeks, students had the opportunity to participate in the following activities:

Baking Galore	Know it and Show it Poets	The Brain Game
Writing That Looks Good and Feels Good	History Mysteries	Mathematics
Virtual Escape Room	Viking Mythology	Making English Extra
Discover Leckie	Enterprising IT	Culture Club
Team Building Leckie Style	My Amazing Brain and How to Grow It	Creative Living and Writing
Anxiety Busters	3D Ball Bearing Puzzle Game	Drama and Theatre Skills Workshop

 

Please click here to find further details on each of the activities offered during the two weeks.

Due to COVID-19 regulations we were unable to carry out a trip, and substituted this by high quality experiences such as:

• Traditional Archery was offered by a specialist company.
• ‘Know it and Show it Poets’, a creative writing experience delivered by local poet Vanwy Arif.  The poems written by the students have been entered into a Year 7 poetry competition.

Parental Engagement

A celebration event was also carried out at the end of the two weeks to showcase the amazing work of the students to their parents and carers.   Reward and prizes were awarded within each subject area and for the best team effort and overall attendance.  The celebration afternoon was attended by a significant number of parents who thoroughly enjoyed been given the opportunity to see what their child had worked on.

Feedback from the parents included :

“Really improved his confidence and made new friends.  Knows his way around the school”

“Excellent confidence builder for the students joining and gave us parents a lot of reassurance and confidence that our children feel secure and happy, ready to start.  Big Thank You”

“My daughter had an amazing time, teachers and everyone were brilliant during this time”

“Summer School has definitely helped my daughter to start school with confidence in September, Thank you”

The Summer School Expenditure

Please click here for the overview of the costs incurred during the two weeks of the Summer School 2021.