Shirebrook school reports four-fold increase in demand for study places during third lockdown

Staff at a Shirebrook school say they are dealing with four times as many requests from parents hoping to send their children to school during the latest lockdown, compared to last year.
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Despite schools being ‘closed’ due to the national lockdown, around 70 students have been attending Shirebrook Academy, on Common Lane, since the start of the new term on Tuesday.

The school opened its doors to 30 vulnerable students and key worker children when the first lockdown was imposed last March, but Mark Cottingham, the school’s principal, said that there is ‘significantly more demand’ this time round.

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He put the reason for the increase down to a range of factors, including greater confidence among parents of the safety of sending their child to school and more parents having to go to work and requiring childcare provision.

Mark Cottingham pictured outside Shirebrook Academy.Mark Cottingham pictured outside Shirebrook Academy.
Mark Cottingham pictured outside Shirebrook Academy.

Mr Cottingham said: “We have had around 70 each day this week and, going on the inquiries that are still coming in, we will have over 100 students on Monday.

“Things are very different to last time – in March, we started off with around 30 students each day, but this dropped down to around 20 each day for a variety of reasons.

“I think a lot of parents also decided that they weren’t going to send their children in full stop, because they felt safer keeping them out of school and they weren’t working, but as they have been attending full-time since September they have more confidence now and, judging by the traffic on the roads, I would say that more people are working this time around.

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“It has taken a vast amount of work to put everything in place and I can assure everybody that we will be able to accommodate all of the students who are studying in school safely, due to the extensive social distancing measures that we have put in place.”

Sallyann Downs is a key worker in a local supermarket and was confident in sending her daughter to school.

She said: “My daughter is going full-time to Shirebrook Academy and she really enjoys it.

"I think they are doing their best to keep kids safe, just like they have all this year.”

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The increased demand for places has been mirrored at hundreds of other secondary schools up and down the UK, which have also opened their doors to students who are not able to take part on online learning at home because they do not have a laptop or PC.

Mr Cottingham said that the Academy has also offered places to children who are in a similar position, although it has also given out hundreds of laptops to students across all year groups.

On Monday the school will launch a programme of live online learning which will be offered to all students, whether they are in school or studying at home.

It is also awaiting further instructions on how its GCSE students, whose exams next summer have now been scrapped, will be assessed and the role the school will play.

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