PUPILS and staff at Star Academies have been honoured for their invaluable efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.

The schools were named recipients of the ‘Education Hero of the Year’ honour, sponsored by Key Stage Teacher Supply, at the Lancashire Telegraph Community Heroes Awards 2021.

The awards will list 10 winners of an online campaign recognising the efforts of NHS staff, shop workers, volunteers and young people who deserve to be honoured for their care and compassion in such unprecedented times.

We had lots of entries in our various categories and the winners will be announced in the coming days in the run-up to a celebration supplement in the Lancashire Telegraph on December 16 featuring all of those successful.

The Education Hero award recognises those who have provided outstanding support for their pupils, demonstrated real creativity to deliver learning experiences and inspired youngsters and colleagues with their resilience and positivity. It also aims to highlight the work pupils and staff did to support the wider community during the pandemic.

Star Academies runs Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School, Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School, The Valley Leadership Academy, Stacksteads, and The Olive School, Blackburn.

Across their network of schools, Star Family Hubs were established in 13 towns and cities to support members of the wider community, staff and pupils.

With the Shine charity and in partnership with Fareshare, Hygiene Bank, Asda, Morrisons, Star used school kitchens to cook 100,000 hot meals for hungry neighbours and homeless people. The schools provided 7,500 families with weekly food parcels and 10,000 hygiene packs – all delivered to homes by Star staff and alumni. A total of 2,500 stationery items were distributed to pupils to support home learning.

Star staff and pupils manufactured 13,500 high-quality items of PPE for key workers.

At the start of the first lockdown when all schools closed nationally, Star established a national parent helpline to support parents with home learning - StarLine drew together 21 partner organisations and 165 volunteers to provide support for parents and carers nationwide on managing home learning.

All pupils received individual phone calls from schools at least weekly, and for many pupils these were more frequent and 135 mental health first aiders were trained across Star schools to support pupils suffering from anxiety and depression.

Sir Mufti Hamid Patel CBE, chief executive of Star Academies, said: “It is heartening to receive this award in recognition of our dedicated staff and talented pupils who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic.

“Our wonderful staff have helped to make a difference to so many people; ensuring our pupils continue to make progress with their learning, whilst also supporting the most vulnerable people in our communities.

“At Star, we are committed to improving the lives of others and we aim to instil and inspire charitable and social action in our pupils through our leadership specialism.

“Through our Star Family Hubs – which have distributed more than £400,000 worth of food, toiletries and PPE to our communities during the pandemic – our pupils have shown exceptional community spirit and selflessness.

“From helping to prepare 100,000 freshly cooked meals in our school kitchens to producing safety visors using 3D printers, our pupils’ leadership qualities have shone through as they strived to help those less fortunate.

“The pandemic has demonstrated that despite recent adversity, the Star family is united in its desire to achieve the very best outcomes for our pupils and to play an active role supporting our communities.”

Primet Primary School in Colne was highly commended in the category.