Welcome Back Kids

Good afternoon and welcome back to this afternoon's blog. With the ever-increasing congestion within this manic Premier League season, having the opportunity to write something non-football related is becoming a rarity. However, today (8th March), marks the first step on the Government's roadmap back to normality. As of 9am this morning, classrooms were once again full with students returning after yet another disrupted period of time. While there are rightly many concerns about this, it is an obstacle that needs to be tackled sooner or later; this was always likely to be the beginning of the end in regards to social distancing and lockdown restrictions. In this article, I explore the ins and outs of children returning to school, including the suggestion that the education they have missed might be caught up during the 'summer holidays'. 

For the past few months, young people up and down the country have been attending lessons using virtual platforms such as Zoom and Google Meets. On the one hand, it allows students to still receive an education and feel part of their school and class community. However, the standard of education is far from where it would be in the classroom. This is not because the teachers are incapable, but because of other factors such as shortened lessons, the lack of a teaching assistant and the inability to deliver one-to-one support to explain the work further. Students will also be afraid to ask for help if everyone else seems to know what they are doing; sadly peer pressure and embarrassment of failure is still very much a present thing in 21st century classrooms.

The flip side of this argument will be are schools are teachers ready for a classroom filled with children? The short and sorry answer is no. They have spent the majority of the past year transferring every resource they have to an online platform which has taken a lot of time and effort. Above all else, however, they will be out of practise. That sounds crazy considering that is their job and they are paid good money to do it, but if anyone goes long enough without practising something then they are expected to be 'rusty' when they return. And do parents think that the attitude of their children will be desirable from day one? Young people in every corner of the country have been used to getting up later, having shorter lessons online, having lunch and breaks at flexible times and finishing the school day earlier than usual. It will be Easter, at the earliest, when children are ready to absorb to the standard they need to at school.

When the schools opened again after the last National Lockdown, the Government assured students, teachers and parents alike that the move would have no impact on the R number. Unfortunately, they were mistaken. The rate jumped by 0.4 across large parts of the country. A similar result this time around and we will be back above 1 (currently around 0.7 nationally). This will lead to the pandemic beginning to increase once again, leading to more hospitalisations, more deaths and a massive bump in the road in the roadmap back to normality. The decision to be made was between health and education to the young people of this country. Which side of the fence you sit is your freedom of choice, although surely everyone would rather be safe than sorry?

The last thing that I believe is worth a mention is the mental wellbeing of the thousands of students returning to school this week. Some of them will be scared, anxious, worried, apprehensive and they all have a very good reason to be. They have been watching the past twelve months what has been happening and will realise that even if they can not be affected by the virus (which of course they can be), they can still carry it and bring it home to pass on to family members. This is a burden that surely no young person should ever have to live with should the worst happen.

The bottom line is that schools either have returned or will return later this week. Protection, risk assessments and following the Government guidance is only half of the battle - the other half is the behaviour of everyone else in the country, especially those who think ignoring the rules is acceptable.

Stay safe and work hard.

Connor

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