We Stayed Open!

The trustees were unanimous at the start of lockdown

A few days after the government announced the closure of schools in late March, the Handsworth Association of Schools Board of Trustees met using video technology. The trustees were unanimous: The Association would stay open and would do all it could to help the families worst affected by the pandemic. 

We knew we needed to stop everything else and just focus on helping our schools, children and families through the Covid-19 crisis, rallied by chair Paulette Hamilton. 

The very next day the HAOS team started work on creating the foodbank project and within days, the first food was collected and delivered to the first group of families in urgent need. 

We carried on providing food and essential supplies every week for 6 months. We added learning resources, recipes, community information as we went along. School headteachers tell us that families are so appreciative of what HAOS has done to help, and we have collected some of the feedback here.