Latest news with #ArchwayLearningTrust
BBC News
16 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Nottingham primary school introduces grief lessons
A Nottingham primary school has introduced lessons to teach its pupils about death. Bluecoat Primary Academy - run by the Archway Learning Trust - is piloted the new addition to its curriculum with the support of East Midlands funeral firm A.W. Lymn. The lessons, which will be taught in schools across the trust, are designed to equip children with the tools to recognise, talk about and handle grief throughout their lives. Benjamin Jackson, the school's head, said he hoped the lessons would "lead the way" for other educators to do similar. The lessons, called "Healing hearts: navigating bereavement, grief and loss" will initially be taught to children in Key Stage 2 and Laird, a Year 5 teacher at the school, said: "What we're asking the children to understand is it [loss] is going to happen at some point to them, it is something they're gong to experience. "We want them to be able to leave school fully aware of that fact but also fully aware of how to handle that." 'Society is changing' The teacher said death was a "bit of a taboo" topic, adding parents who had struggled with death and grief could "often feel reluctant to pass that on to their children". She said educators had a "duty of care" to children not to "hide behind" difficult topics. "As society is changing, as we're more honest, as social media is more prevalent, we need to be able to equip children with the skills to handle those things and grief is something everyone is going to deal with at some point at some scale," she said. "The aim of the lesson is not to scare the children, we're not going to go into details of death. "What we're aiming to teach the children is how to handle grief." Pupils will also have the chance to ask questions and raise any concerns during and after each lesson. They will be supported by a mentor who is specifically trained in children's mental health and will be present during the lessons, Ms Laird said. The school carried out a consultation with parents before introducing the lessons and received "positive feedback", according to head teacher Benjamin Hampton, the education trust's chief executive officer said: "We're proud to be taking decisive action on such an important issue and to be leading the way for other trusts in shaping happy and resilient future citizens."A.W Lymn's managing director, Matthew Lymn Rose added: "It's been a privilege to work alongside the passionate educators at Archway to bring this monumentally important pilot to classrooms."
BBC News
26-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Parents 'frustrated' at collapse of school cash app
Parents trying to retrieve money from a pre-payment system for school meals are "disappointed and frustrated" at being charged a £10 administration fee to reclaim funds, a school leader has sQuid app allowed parents to put money on a card so pupils could pay for meals and other items but it ceased UK operations on 14 firm said it announced the move on 3 February, citing "increasingly adverse trading conditions during and post-Covid".Nathan Jeremiah, from Archway Learning Trust, which runs schools across the East Midlands and used the system, said there was about £43,000 owed to about 1,300 parents in the system when the company ceased operation. "For our parents that is a lot of money," said Mr Jeremiah, chief operating officer at the Nottinghamshire-based trust."We serve [some] incredibly disadvantaged communities where they're putting that money on the account to feed their children, with the intent that that would provide their child with a meal at school."To not have that available for some of the schools and communities we serve, that is a significant sum of money." Company 'difficult' Mr Jeremiah said he has been dealing with parents trying to get their money refunded, with the administration fee causing particular anger, and criticised the company for their response."There [have] been complaints, and a lot of noise from parents that are disappointed and frustrated that a company has said in good faith they wouldn't charge [an admin fee] up until that point, and then decided at the last minute that they would," he said."They [sQuid] have been incredibly difficult to deal with, to actually get clarity to provide to parents - they said the normal ways, so [the] app and a website, etc, to be able to get money out of the system and top up, would continue to work, and then they shut the app down almost immediately."It appears to me that every obstacle they could put in [parents'] way, they have."In a statement sQuid said it "has continued to provide a refund service to parents in accordance with its terms and conditions" and is continuing to process also said the terms and conditions regarding refunds "have not changed"."The company planned and has been carrying out an orderly exit leaving time for schools to find alternative providers while continuing to support services for schools and parents until we have completed the exit," the statement said."We understand why some schools and parents are upset that we are making any charges, even though these charges are clearly stated in our terms and conditions."It remains our intention to complete our exit from the market responsibly and with the least impact on all concerned."
