School gives lessons in community support

CLASSROOMS may be closed but the Lady Elizabeth School is teaching others how to support students, parents and the wider community in the coronavirus crisis.

One of a group of 10 academies forming Colegios Laude in Spain and part of the International Schools Partnership; the Benitachell school is taking part in a series of initiatives to help pupils’ families and the local community.

The ‘Covid-19 Fee Support Scheme” is financial relief for the families of students during the emergency: it involves the reduction of fees of up to 50% until facilities are allowed to reopen; deferral of re-enrolment fees; and a freeze of fees throughout the first term of the next academic year.

This is in addition to steps swiftly taken when schools were ordered to close across the country. Parents were then informed school bus and lunch fees for the remainder of March would be refunded.

Chris Akin, head of the Lady Elizabeth School, said: “For the past three weeks our priority has been our students and we have focussed on ensuring the continuity of their education through our Distance Learning programmes; which have received overwhelmingly positive families.

“Now Distance Learning is solidly in place, we are kickstarting our Covid-19 Fee Support Scheme to alleviate the immediate financial pressure on our students’ families and to align our fees with the distance praise from our learning service their children are now receiving.”

The move is possible because of being part of a successful group of schools around the globe - and the school has already been thanked for the helping hand; one email said: “The offered solution is such a release for many families.”

And there are positive moves to help the wider community; Lady Elizabeth School has donated all its stocks of protective face masks and gloves to Marina Salud’s Denia Hospital - other Laude schools have donated food trays to nursing homes.

Schools possessing 3D printers in their ‘Fab Lab’ have joined a nationwide drive to make face protection masks for health workers and the machines are in production 24 hours a day.

The group as a whole has offered local hospitals the use of all student accommodation to health staff temporally moved near schools - Lady Elizabeth School has offered its Pedregeur student residence to Denia Hospital.

Finally, and back to learning, the group is making its distance learning knowledge and experience to other schools. Mr Akin added: “We feel proud to pass this knowhow onto other schools that need it.”