Inspiring Barrow 2020-2021 updates

Although school visits were not permitted into the school buildings during lockdown restrictions, Inspiring Barrow has been busy behind the scenes supporting the children of Barrow and Furness.

The team supported the schools by offering support to the school Hubs that remained open for vulnerable children and children of key workers.  One of the activities enjoyed by children was going out on the fields or play areas and searching for “Treasure “with metal detectors supplied by Inspiring Barrow.

Inspiring Barrow has also been taking part in The Barrow Resilience Group meetings throughout the pandemic and has responded to the “ ASK “  of the local schools by supplying schools with free laptop devices to help the families and children who needed support with remote learning. This has ensured that children could follow the e-learning and enable them to keep up with their studies from home.

Mick Cull, Head teacher for Ormsgill Nursery and Primary school said:

The supply of laptops and other devices from organisations such as Inspiring Barrow and Dropzone will have a huge impact on our children. Our families are doing a tremendous job with remote learning but where they are trying to access work via a phone or children are having to share devices with their siblings, it makes it that much more difficult.

These extremely generous donations will allow all children to connect with their teachers and classmates and ensure their learning can continue during this challenging time. We are so grateful to Inspiring Barrow, and all those who have worked tirelessly to ensure no child is left behind.

To support children who were having a difficult time emotionally during lockdown, the programme purchased and delivered sets of Unworry books to all schools in the area during Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week.  These provide valuable support to the most vulnerable children.

Further support was given to families with online resources.  Inspiring Barrow sponsored free online singing lessons provided by local professional singer Becki Fishwick . In addition to the fun engagement, this helped children develop confidence and resilience by rehearsing for a final grand performance when the children performed online in-front of their families.

Additional on-line support was delivered to children with the ever-popular History Detectives programme. Delivered by local historian and author Gill Jepson. The programme allows children to research the expansion of Barrow through the Victorian era with children tracing the growth of Barrow through the Industrial revolution.