How do you show your teacher you are delighted to see them without being able to hug them? Make a heart shape with your fingers? Extend a litter picker and tickle them in the ribs? Do a funny dance?

This is the question I have been discussing with my five-year-old daughter since it emerged she would be able to return to school. Of course, she favours the tickling stick. I’m uncertain it’s in line with the guidelines.

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Mixed emotions

She has been asking for her teacher every single day since lockdown began, so I am pretty positive about sending her back. She has humoured me on home schooling but has noticed I am not a “real teacher” and lack the gentle patience required to teach phonics.

Of course, like all parents, I have my concerns about the return to school. Not particularly for my daughter who is an easy-going child, but that opening schools could create the dreaded “second spike”.

It is a hugely divisive issue and the strength of feeling on social media, at least, is palpable. Say you want a cautious and well-managed return to school and you are well-nigh accused of wanting to murder your own child and imperil the lives of millions of vulnerable people.

Indeed, judging from my own parental Whatsapp groups, very few will be sending their reception child back. Reasons why either hover around the idea that children will be “traumatised” by being unable to hug their teachers and friends or it not being worth it as the school year is almost over. Some fear for their children’s safety, while others, quite understandably, can’t take the risk of infecting a vulnerable person in their household.

I fully understand parents’ reasons for keeping their children out of school. The coronavirus crisis has reduced faith in government to near zero in many quarters, and the science is mixed, so it is reasonable to see why some think it is too soon to re-open schools.

Teacher heroics

However, I’m not basing my decision on how much faith I have in government. I am basing it on the huge faith I have in the teachers at my children’s East London primary school. They have clearly been working flat-out to come up with a way to bring some year groups back in a meaningful way that is safe for students and staff.

The headteacher has kept us up-to-date throughout and sent us the fine detail of when staff will receive training and how the classes will be organised in our particular setting. It all makes sense and looks feasible.

We know already who our children’s teachers will be, what they will do for lunch and that school uniform has been shelved until September. The procedure if anyone falls ill has been outlined in detail.

My reception-class daughter will be attending for half days only, while my Year 6 son will attend Monday to Thursday to work on secondary transition work. It is a relatively small school of 300, so both will have teachers they know and like.

Clearly, it will be very strange for children to socially distance, and some will find it hard or even impossible. But I think we underestimate teachers’ ability to police this and children’s capacities to adapt to new situations and rules.

School is always worth it

Many parents I know have said they do not think it is worth it to send the kids back. They say all this effort and fear is too much trouble to teach a few pupils in a sad “ghost school” where so much is outlawed and so many still can’t or won’t attend.

But, to the teachers who have been busting a gut to make this happen, I think it is worth it. The idea that schools are only opening to babysit on behalf of working parents is untrue and belittles the role of teachers and schools in children’s lives.

Just because the children aren’t speeding through the standard curriculum doesn’t mean they won’t appreciate speaking and exchanging ideas with important role models from outside of their own homes. Classes will be smaller and the extra attention could do them some good.

The sense of an ending

For my Year 6 child in particular, who was nearing the end of a term of dry Sats revision when schools shut down, any sort of return to school seems important. He needs to wind up loose ends, see some friends and say goodbye to an incredible seven years.

Overall, a cautious, phased return to school in the summer term is a reasonable thing to do that will prepare us for the desired full return in September. I have every faith in my children’s teachers to work with me to manage that risk and make the return to school a positive, worthwhile experience.

Irena Barker is a freelance journalist writing about education and youth issues.