Principal proud of Retford school's response to COVID challenge

Christine Horrocks said the crisis had demonstrated the values which have been long established in the academy.

And she said the crisis should serve as sign that now is the time for a change in education, where schools are not judged on data and performance tables and instead determine what is right for individual students.

She said: “I believe we must now push the agenda regarding the ‘forgotten third’ ie, those students who do not achieve level four at GCSE.

"We must ensure they secure qualifications which provide them with a pathway and does not make them feel failures at the age of 16, even if the qualifications do not count in performance tables.

When the country first went into lockdown, the school remained open for children of key workers and both staff and pupils began doing what they could to support the NHS, including making PPE.

Mrs Horrocks said: “During this time, we were still setting and marking work on-line and phoning students and parents as well as ensuring all parents, students and staff were kept up to date on school developments.

"It was incredible how within a matter of weeks, we went from delivering limited on-line lessons to delivering lessons to every year in every curriculum area.”

"In the last few weeks, we have focused on getting more and more students back in the building, including all year 10 students and year 12 students.

“More recently, we have focused on getting everything planned so we can get all students back in the building working in ‘bubbles’ and we cannot wait.”“We must be courageous in putting students and staff wellbeing at the forefront of what we do

"Ofsted has stated it will look at schools’ response to Covid-19 in the autumn term and also focus on student wellbeing.

"If this is the case, I am confident we will be a model.

"We must believe that our holistic approach is right for our young people.”