Returning to school or not, for most, is a choice. But, for thousands of pupils across the country, the decision has been made for them - they cannot return to school, to their friends, to their teachers. Nor do they know when it might be safe for them to do so.
These children can feel overlooked and forgotten and have a heightened sense of their own vulnerability - they are the shielded children.
It’s likely almost every school will have a child who is shielding. We need to ensure our schools look after those children.
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These pupils may have felt hugely responsible for their entire family having to remove themselves from society and, at the same time, they may have become increasingly aware of their own susceptibility.
Disruption for shielded children
Access to their usual clinicians and familiar healthcare teams will likely have been removed and replaced with phone and video calls.
Some of these children may not have been in school much before this, or not seemed to enjoy it when they were in. You may think they have not missed you. But they will have. And they need the easy familiarity and routine that school provides.
If you have pupils who can’t return when their classmates do, those pupils need to feel part of your routine and of your learning community - this is also crucial to bear in mind for any future absences they may have to endure. While everyone was learning remotely, they could feel similar to everyone else but, as students begin to return, they may acutely feel that disjoint and anxiety: fearing for their own academic progress, their own friendship groups and the overwhelming fear that they may be forgotten.
A school plan
Leadership teams need to ensure class teachers or teaching assistants have time to reach out to those who are still removed from the classroom because of their clinical vulnerability.
Can classmate pen pals be facilitated? Do they have access to lessons or assemblies being streamed to them? Are there opportunities for virtual group work? Can they keep a work diary that can be shared with the class? Can they submit work for peer marking and can they peer mark? How can knowledge organisers, prior learning and quizzes be used to keep a focus on building understanding and making connections? Will doing everything on a laptop hinder their eventual return?
Feedback is key here. To know that there is someone considering these pupils’ work and engagement means so much: keep it regular, positive and focused on clear and actionable advice to move forward.
Parental involvement
In addition, consider how you will feedback to parents who are no longer faces on the playground or outside the school gates. They may feel a similar detachment and may be fearful of the implications on their child’s academic progress.
And when these pupils do return? What they don’t need is to feel singled out or encouraged to develop a victim complex, but expecting them to be their old selves after months of being locked inside may not come easy for these students and it may be the case that they will need extra emotional support in whatever way you can offer it and this extends to their parents, too.
Autonomy is key
Importantly, there should be a focus on autonomy. Encourage students to make choices and support their reasoning - they have had to surrender the right to make choices and they need to develop this confidence again.
Likewise, they may find social situations overwhelming at first. Give them a voice and accept that they may need their contributions scaffolded and prompted.
Also, they may feel that friendship groups have moved on without them and, when you are at school, this can be life defining. Give them space and opportunities to reaffirm relationships.
Crucially, don’t underestimate these pupils’ appreciation of the implications of this pandemic - they are already experts. They live avoiding germs and being acutely aware of circulating viruses, accepting that a false move could land them in hospital.
For a brief period of time, we have all shared their experience. And perhaps that is the biggest learning curve of all.
Lisa Lockley is assistant headteacher at John Willmott School in the West Midlands
