While we can talk about pre-Covid and post-Covid worlds, the reality is that this new academic year is starting while we are still in the middle of a pandemic, the ramifications of which are still not yet fully understood.

But, while there remains uncertainty as to how this new school year will pan out, it is already clear why the return of all pupils to full-time education this term has been so important.

Quite simply: it is safer for our children, especially those from disadvantaged homes, to be in school, so that they are accessing not just their academic studies but, critically, a strong support network.

School staff often pride ourselves on knowing our children - and their home lives - inside out. This is only possible through relationships built over many months and years. So we already knew which children would be likely to face the most complex problems during lockdown.

Coronavirus: The challenges faced by children in lockdown

In our academies, what we have seen in the first weeks that children have been back at school is that a sizable proportion of our pupils have gone hungry through lockdown, have seen or been subject to domestic violence, have been exposed to crime, or have been responsible for younger siblings’ day-to-day care, including trying to educate them as well as themselves. 

We have one child, for instance, in one of our primary academies, who it is clear has been witness to domestic violence within an abusive, financially impoverished household. She has suffered emotional and physical neglect, and is undernourished.

Another child is far from underweight - but has clearly spent much of the past six months being exposed to a constant diet of junk food and computer games, as a means of keeping him quiet for hours on end.

Then there are the children with poor teeth or untreated nits, or whose school uniform does not fit - further signs of what life is like in our country’s chaotic, disordered homes. 

Of course, the great majority of our parents and carers look after the welfare of their children brilliantly. But, for a significant minority within our trust and across the country, life is much tougher as a result of parental neglect.

The unsung heroes of the education system

Coming to school each day means that we have daily sight of these children and can ensure their welfare: that they eat well and that they have appropriate clothing.

But through lockdown, when we have been unable - despite our home visits - to keep check, these children have suffered hugely. Their mental and physical health has significantly deteriorated, because the adults in their homes have so often been preoccupied with their own lot, rather than those of their children, or because they are simply unable to cope.

The idea that these parents may have been capable of supporting their child to do any learning or encouraging them to exercise in the past six months - when they are unable even keep their child safe, well-fed and well-clothed - is fanciful.

So, while making up for lost teaching time through catch-up lessons is high on the agenda, the work of schools’ pastoral teams has never been more important. They are the unsung heroes of the education system. Many of these teams will have worked tirelessly during lockdown to support families, but now we have eyes on our children every day.

Subtlety and the art of persuasion

Subtlety and the art of persuasion are crucial. The first step is to get children and families back into the daily regime and ritual of coming to school. 

When here, they will be given a good, healthy diet, free of fizzy drinks and fatty foods, with plenty of fruit, vegetables and water, and they will take regular exercise again. Then we need to ensure that these things are replicated at home, as best as possible. These are the simple and immediate things.

Other aspects will take longer. There is a considerable amount of counselling work that needs to be done to improve pupils’ wellbeing. The consequences of the past six months on the mental health of many young people cannot be undone quickly, and we have to take the time, and allow children the time, to return to their old selves.

It is why children across all our academies will not sit any tests or assessments in the first half-term of the new academic year. Instead, gaps in knowledge will be derived from teacher observation, and teaching staff will work in conjunction with pastoral experts to create bespoke plans for our pupils. Heaping too much on children who have been out of education for almost six months is of no benefit to anyone. 

Mental health and wellbeing

Investment in mental health and wellbeing training for teachers across the profession has never been more important. I would like to see the government provide extra funding to facilitate this, and to allow teachers’ existing knowledge to be updated, in light of Covid.

Holistic emotional support for children will help to support recovery planning, but it requires proper training to have the impact needed. 

I would recommend to all schools that they return in their thinking to some of the excellent work that emerged under the Every Child Matters agenda, which was launched, at least in part, as a consequence of the murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié in 2000. Each of the five derived outcomes of the Children Act 2004 remain as important in 2020 as they ever have been. Perhaps more so. 

Academic, social and emotional learning are firmly interconnected. The start of the new school year involves us having to create a new dispensation for our pupils and re-establish the safe haven that many have come to associate with school.

For us to do this successfully, our priority as a profession must be our pupils’ happiness and mental wellbeing, above all else. 

Sir John Townsley is chief executive officer of The GORSE Academies Trust