Students went home for a week, while we re-thought our services. Families soon reported the difficulties created for their children through loss of routine & not enough to do with their time. We created new practices, such as sending worksheets & kits home for planting or constructing planters.
Our MP helped us to gain permission to offer a new service ‘Safe Walks for Exercise’. This let families come with their children in timetabled sessions.
In the Summer the National Lottery gave us £60,000 & we built a mile long fenced walkway to offer more walks to more students. We held a strictly controlled Click and Collect Plant Sales in Spring 2020 & 2021, and Christmas Fayre’s also. We learned to use the better weather to offer more activities & our students gradually became able to work, outside & even singly inside, with our staff.
BBC TV came to film in September & December 2021 for the ‘We are England’ series. Subsequent Lockdowns caused us then to revert to a narrower service again.