Star Academies wins Lancashire Telegraph Community Heroes Award

Star Academies has been honoured for its monumental efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. The multi-academy trust has been crowned ‘Education Hero of the Year’ in the Lancashire Telegraph Community Heroes Awards 2021.

The Education Hero award recognises those who have provided outstanding support for their pupils, demonstrated real creativity to deliver learning experiences and inspired pupils and colleagues with their resilience and positivity. It also aims to highlight the breadth of support that pupils and staff have provided to the wider community throughout the pandemic.

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.

With around 20% of Star pupils having lost members of their immediate or extended family during the pandemic, schools provided enhanced, personalised pastoral support to its pupils. Star 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.

Across our network of schools nationally, Star Family Hubs were established in all schools – in 13 towns and cities – to support members of the wider community, staff and pupils. Working collaboratively with Shine charity and in partnership with FareShare, Hygiene Bank, Asda and Morrisons, our Star Family Hubs not only provided over £400,000 worth of food, toiletries and PPE to vulnerable members of the Star family but to the wider communities where its schools are located.

100,000 hot meals were prepared in school kitchen for hungry neighbours and homeless people. Schools provided 7,500 families with weekly food parcels and 10,000 hygiene packs – all delivered to homes by Star staff and alumni. A total of 2,500 stationery items were distributed to pupils to support home learning, and staff and pupils manufactured 13,500 high-quality items of PPE for key workers.

Star Academies also received recognition for its emergency civic response, which saw it spearhead two national projects – StarLine and the Reopening Schools Toolkit – to support pupils, parents and schools nationwide to reduce the impact of widespread school closures on the academic progress of children and young people.

StarLine, the home learning helpline established by Star, reached more than 1.5 million parents during the pandemic and helped to provide support to parents who were struggling to support their children with the demands of home learning.

The Reopening Schools Toolkit was a comprehensive online resource provided free of charge to schools across the country to help them plan for the safe reopening of their schools in line with government guidance.

Sir Mufti Hamid Patel CBE, Chief Executive of Star Academies, said:

“It is heartening to receive this award in recognition of our dedicated staff and talented pupils who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic. Our wonderful staff have helped to make a difference to so many people; ensuring our pupils continue to make progress with their learning, whilst also supporting the most vulnerable people in our communities. At Star, we are committed to improving the lives of others and we aim to instil and inspire charitable and social action in our pupils through our leadership specialism. Through our Star Family Hubs, our pupils have shown exceptional community spirit and selflessness. From helping to prepare 100,000 freshly cooked meals in our school kitchens to producing safety visors using 3D printers, our pupils’ leadership qualities have shone through as they strived to help those less fortunate. The pandemic has demonstrated that despite recent adversity, the Star family is united in its desire to achieve the very best outcomes for our pupils and to play an active role supporting our communities.”

Added By: Star Academies | Date Added: 8th Dec 2021 | Posted In: Latest News