Latest News

Children are being set fun challenges to take them away from their online schoolwork – and to protect their mental health.

With schools closed to the majority of students since the end of March, lessons have been moved to the internet to enable teachers to continue teaching and inspiring their classes.

At Epping St John’s Church of England School a priority has also been placed on ensuring young people are getting time away from the computer screen.

Weekly ACE Challenges are being set for students to complete at home in return for reward points.

The fun tasks have so far included a challenge to achieve as many keepie-uppies as possible and to create a two-course meal for their families.

Sarah Viccars, senior assistant headteacher, said: “Some may only be trivial tasks, but they are something that just encourage students away from a computer screen and to provide a break from schoolwork, as well as teaching life skills such as cooking. That is so important for their mental health.”

Jody Wynes, Year 7, said: “I decided I was going to find a recipe related to beef and decided on meatballs. For pudding, I decided to make small chocolate cakes.

“The meatballs turned out great and my whole family loved them. They also loved the chocolate, but it was really sickly!”

With secondary schools remaining closed to the majority of students until after the summer break, the ACE Challenges will be used as a way of welcoming in September’s new Year 7 cohort.

Miss Viccars said: “As our transition momentum increases, we are also going to extend these challenges out to our new Year 7 intake, so they can also get involved. That should help to provide a sense of belonging to the Epping St John’s family before they get here in September.”