18th October 2021
SUMMER SCHOOL JULY 2021
Summer School
St Joan of Arc
2021
19th to 23rd July
St Joan of Arc Catholic school ran a summer school in July 2021. All year six pupils, due to attend St Joan’s in September 2021, were invited to participate. We had a good response with 105 pupils signing up for the week.
St Joan’s worked with a provider called, ‘Let Me Play’. Amy Lalla put the Let Me Play programme together that included literature and numeracy in the morning and various enrichment activities in the afternoon.
The summer school started very well with good attendance (See table below) on Monday 19th July. Unfortunately, at the end of the first day a pupil reported a positive covid PCR test that meant the whole of one group had to be isolated.
There were several further outbreaks of covid resulting in falling numbers every day for the rest of the week. Some pupils chose to withdraw attendance as a result of the outbreak of covid.
Summer school continues for the whole week and offered excellent intervention and excellent enrichment activities. Pupils at the end of the summer school offered excellent feedback about their experience.
Let Me Play was supported by eight members of St Joan of Arc staff plus a lead teacher. The JOA staff felt the programme on offer by LMP was excellent with very good engagement by all pupils that attended the summer school to the end.
The school and LMP attempted to manage the Covid situation with bubbles and seating plans to reduce the impact of covid as far as possible. LMP had a comprehensive Risk Assessment.
Numbers each day were as follows:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
84
63
63
42
20
The school used the recovery summer school funding to cover the cost of the summer school.
Expenses:
Summer school
COST
Let Me Play
17,498
Lead teacher organisation time
Included in JOA Staff
JOA staffing
11,372
Cleaners
725
Total cost
29,595
Funded by the Recovery Premium
Transition Summer School 2021
www.letmeplay.co.uk
LMP ACTION
What is a Transition Programme?
Our Transition Programme is a Summer School initiative to provide young people with the extra support they need to have a smooth transition from Primary to Secondary School. The programme offers creatively devised sessions, delivered by teachers over the course of one week.
An independent survey commissioned by the Department for Education concluded that 61% of students are highly anxious and concerned about starting Secondary School, but this decreased to 20% following attendance of a Summer School. In addition to this, the study showed huge benefits of a Summer School through increased levels of confidence, positivity relating to school, social benefits and school readiness.
A bit about Let Me Play
• Delivered over 120 academic Transition Programmes in the last 4 years.
• Is the biggest residential sports camp provider in the UK.
• Runs several alternative education sites
• Specialises in providing apprenticeship training for schools
Let Me Play and YOUR School... It is important to us that the lessons and ethics introduced and learnt on the programme mirror those of your school. We will ask you for your behaviour policies, codes of conduct, uniform requirements and any other specific information that should be introduced to the students in order to build their affiliations with the school.
The Let Me Play Transition Programme
Our Programme is educational and fun! The programme has been created to evoke curiosity in learners and inspire learning. All sessions are interactive, challenging and have a clear outcome. We have a clear main focus on identifying needs and then working to maintain literacy and numeracy levels in creative ways. Whilst educationally based, past pupils will always state the excitement of the programme; parents are encouraged to attend the showcases and schools get a detailed report at the end of the programme. Everyone involved benefits from the Transition Camp Programme.
Whilst open to all the programme encourages students from disadvantaged/vulnerable backgrounds to attend. This allows the attainment gap to be addressed.
During the programme, we address concerns, fears and pre-conceptions of big? school, provide academic catch-up, and ultimately provide an environment to aid settlement into a new school.
There is a strong educational focus, with qualified teachers providing small group intervention to ensure all pupils on the programme are being assessed and work at differentiated levels. The programme lends well to involving extended families by having aspects of the programme with parental/guardian involvement.
Literacy
Numeracy
Team Building
Confidence Building
Orientation & Familiarisation
