Do you remember 20th March 2020? It was the day schools across the UK closed and home schools in many front rooms opened. The country was trying to adapt to an unprecedented lockdown and families were getting used to working from home.
The speed the lockdown was imposed meant that parents and schools were not prepared for huge challenges facing them. Home schooling was overwhelming for many parents and carers who were also trying to manage their jobs in a new environment. It quickly became apparent to Emma from conversations with other mums and in online school governor meetings that children and families needed support.
Emma contacted Anna Firth MP who had been working with colleagues in Kent to build an online platform to provide live lessons to children stuck at home. She took the model and replicated it in Surrey, fund-raising over £10,000, recruiting teachers and marketing offering to parents and schools. From July 2020 Invicta was providing free live English and maths lesson across 4 key stages everyday. Emma was the director of the Surrey arm of Invicta and oversaw over 6000 learning opportunities delivered to thousands of children. The Academy also repurposed secondhand laptops, tablets and phones to families on free school meals and pupil premium allowing the most disadvantaged children to benefit from the free lessons.
Nationally Invicta recorded over 300,000 attendances to 2572 lessons and received commendation from the Department of Education and the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
https://conservativehome.com/2020/09/09/robert-halfon-seven-education-h…