A COMMUNITY group is hoping to set up a summer school for children who have struggled during the lockdown.

Barton Community Association (BCA) wants to have the school up and running for the beginning of August, to run for the rest of the month.

Operating out of the Barton neighbourhood centre, the BCA is in search of funding and staff for the school.

Sue Holden, company secretary for BCA, said: “Some children have really struggled with home education so we’re hoping that they can take full advantage in August with a social distanced summer school.

See also: Latest court results for Oxfordshire

“We want to have a summer school with professional teachers in a school environment.

“We’re not expecting staff to give up their entire summer holidays and we’ll be very flexible on what weeks they’ll work if they just want to do a week or two.

“However, we do need to attract staff who can cover for the entire four weeks.

“The school will offer core subjects such as maths, reading and writing, with one-to-one reading sessions too.

“The summer school will be from 9am to quarter to 12, and there’ll be a free breakfast and a free lunch, with activities to get involved in, in the afternoon.”

Read more: Primary heads welcome abandoned plans to return to classroom

Ms Holden said the school would hopefully start on Monday, August 3, and run Monday-Friday for four weeks, concentrating on years four to six.

She added: “I’ve discussed this very informally at the beginning of lockdown but as time has gone by, I very quickly realised the need for this is even more crucial.

“We’re open to all suggestions on how to run this and we’re looking out for funding as we’ve not had anything confirmed yet.”

Ms Holden hopes local school Sandhills Primary is one school that can get involved.

Emma Coleman, headteacher at Sandhills, said: “We’re very concerned we’ve got four year groups that haven’t been able to return to school.

Oxford Mail:

“We’ve been in discussions with Sue for some time on whether we could offer added provisions for the children.

“Sue approached us saying that this could be a goer and the answer from us was very much yes.

“The prospect of having some face-to-face interaction will be beneficial for the pupils and I imagine some of the teachers here will want to take part.”

The BCA also provides support for people seeking help with finding work, those looking for training or educational courses, and people setting up their own small business.