09 August 2023
Samarès School has opened an inclusive community summer school, every Wednesday for six
weeks, for all their students to pop-in and have access to a range of fun and interactive learning
activities. Creating community schools is a priority outlined by the Minister in her Ministerial Plan.
So far, around 80 children and young people have attended each Wednesday session, with their
parents or carers, since it opened last week and around 25 students will benefit from a one-to-one
tutoring class in maths or literacy with a teacher.
Samarès summer school, runs from 9.30am – 11.30am every Wednesday for their students and
includes free sessions with Jersey Sport, a large pop-up book library with Jersey Library and Every
Child Our Future as well as activities by the Youth Service and Pathways Centre.
Over the summer several support services for children and families will be at the summer school
including Mind Jersey, Best Start Partnership, Pathways, Children and Families Hub, Family Nursing
& Home Care and Jersey Youth Service. Children who are taking part in the summer school
interactive activities must be supervised by an adult.
The summer school programme is led by the School Improvement and Advisory Service (SIAS),
which is part of the Department for Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES). Funding
for the summer school programme is available through the Social Recovery Fund, which was
previously known as the Covid Recovery Fund.
A total of seven schools are taking part this year and their programmes vary depending on the age
and stage of the pupils. All the summer school programmes aim to support the children and young
people with their learning and their wellbeing.
Assistant Minister for Children and Education, Deputy Louise Doublet, said: “The mission of both
the Council of Ministers and our Ministerial team is to create schools that are hubs within our
communities. This means that they can host multiple services for children and families and make
the best use of our education facilities, as well as offering a space for children and young people to
be physically active.
“Samarès school has essentially piloted this mission in creating a fantastic inclusive community
summer school, which was brilliant to see in action. Thank you to all the schools and staff who are
opening during the summer to offer these programmes for children, young people, and families.”
Jenny Posner, headteacher of Samarès School, said: “Our summer school is set up to welcome
parents, carers, and their children every Wednesday morning over the summer holidays. They can
just pop in and don’t need to register in advance. It’s wonderful to see parents engaging in all the
activities with their children and the Jersey Library and the Every Child Our Future book corner has
been especially popular.
“It’s so important for us to keep engaging with our school community even through the summer.
We are still discovering the impact that Covid has had on children’s learning and wellbeing so the
Social Recovery Fund, provided by the Department, has enabled us to create a programme that is
right for our school, which our team have worked very hard on designing.
“I’d like to thank our school community for making it such a success, from the teachers working
through the summer to the support services and especially all our children and families for
attending and engaging so enthusiastically in our summer school.”
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