What sort of pupils will be returning to the class after lockdown? Reading some headlines about the “lost generation” doesn’t leave much room for subtlety. Proposals of summer school, resitting the year and extending the school day draw a huge swathe of reactions and comment from the public and the teaching profession.

But why?

Schools aren’t factories. They are places where staff do the very best they can with the resources they have to get it right for every child. Every individual child.

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What of that initial question: what sort of pupils will be returning to class after lockdown?

Well, it’s likely we will have pupils who have been isolated; pupils who have chatted more to friends on Xbox than ever before; pupils who have fallen behind with their reading; pupils who have discovered Roald Dahl and are on to their fourth book of his; pupils who have been out running with mum every day; pupils who have stayed inside and put on weight; pupils who have thrived; pupils who have struggled.

Coronavirus: Teachers need to focus on individual pupils

As has always been the case in education, no single policy or initiative designed to boost the academic attainment of students is going to work for every child. Every time such a blanket scheme is rolled out, we find children falling through the cracks for a huge variety of reasons.

Whatever initiatives are brought in as a reaction to the pandemic, they need to be tailored as much as possible to the individual. That means speaking to each pupil, speaking to each family, considering the uniqueness of each community setting and providing schools with agency to decide how the “after Covid” school day operates.

It’s also important to note that whilst we have never seen absence from face-to-face teaching on such a large scale, many practitioners have seen pupils miss months of school. Whether they were hospitalised for months, went abroad for half a year and didn’t attend school, maybe even led a global climate strike, teachers have always been there endeavouring to fill the gaps - without calls to lengthen the school day.

If there was ever a time for education professionals to have a renewed focus on personalisation of learning, I believe the return to school is it. There is so much talk about pupils needing to catch up with the curriculum.

Yet before anything is decided, we need to sit down, talk and catch up with them - every, single, one.

Blair Minchin is a primary teacher in Edinburgh. He tweets @Mr_Minchin