A few minutes ago, I took a photograph. It was a picture of me and my three children in the garden, as it is the last day we will all be together before they start back to school tomorrow.

It was always going to be an emotional day for me, as my youngest starts school for the first time. So, for the first time in nine years, there will be no little ones at home. 

Everything will be new for my son. But this year, so will everything for his big sisters, for me and everyone in the wider education family. We’re all going to have a first day this year, and it is likely that these first days will just keep on coming, as we constantly adjust to guidance and recommendations, and navigate what are certainly the most uncertain of times. 

My eldest two have been trying to explain over the last few days what school is like to their little brother. They have tried to explain lunchtimes - and I’ve had to say, no, they will be very different from that this year. They have tried to explain playtime and PE and assemblies and climbing frames and parents’ evenings. And each time I’ve had to say that, no, it won’t be like that. 

‘The grown-ups are the same’

My middle daughter, who is six, sat munching on an apple for a while. Then, eventually, she shrugged and said, “Well the grown-ups will still be there, and they’re the same.” 

And she is right.

The fabric and organisation of our buildings may have shifted. The routines and interactions and movements around the school may be unfamiliar and somewhat alien to adults and children alike. But these are not what make a school. 

My daughters then went on to tell my youngest about every adult in the school: the lunchtime supervisors, the executive head, the premises officers, the office staff, the teachers, the support staff, the cleaners, the crossing-patrol lady. They spoke with warmth and pride and love for all of the adults who contribute to their experience of school. 

Tomorrow, it is my youngest’s induction morning and earlier I received a video of a “sneak peek” of his new classroom, as well as a handwritten card through our letterbox to help ready him for transition. 

My eldest has had a homework task to fill in, about what makes her special and what she would like her teacher to know about her. My middle one has the same teacher again this year, and is beyond delighted that she gets to see her beloved Mrs W again. 

They’ve sat for ages with my youngest explaining all about “school”, but what they are talking about now is people and relationships. These are what are important to all of us, now more than ever. 

What really matters to them

We can implement systems and procedures, we can adapt our practice and our approaches, and we can evaluate and adjust and respond to our new ways of teaching. But we must not berate ourselves if there are teething problems and a feeling that, initially, the new teaching shoe doesn’t fit. 

Our pupils will have seen far fewer children and adults over the previous months than they have ever seen before. They are not just - as some catastrophisers would have us believe - now dangerously deficit in knowledge. They’ve also not had the chance to nurture and develop their relationships with peers, and to feel the supportive culture of the wider school. 

So, when my three return to a version of school, punctuated by so many new versions of what they used to know, I am confident that they will sail through, because what really matters to them are the people who will be guiding them through this next phase. 

The human relationships that make a school

As adults in education, we need to remember this not just for our children, but for ourselves. Last week, I spoke at our academy trust’s strategy day, to our headteachers and lead professionals. I realised I had missed them all so much, despite seeing lots of them via video calls for months - so much so that I welled up a little. 

Because this is what makes our schools and our organisations so brilliant: the people. I carried on doing my work over lockdown and the summer holidays, but I missed being in the same space as the people with whom I work. 

That was my first day: an emotional reunion and a heady relief that we could all be together, and pride at what everyone has achieved during these turbulent months. 

Whatever the new term brings for us all - and the only thing we can be certain of is that it will be turbulent - we must not forget that it is people and human relationships that make a school. 

When you strip it all back, to a six-year-old on top of their climbing frame at home, she just wants to see the grown-ups, because that is what she’s missed, and that’s what makes her understanding of what school is. 

Emma Turner is the research and CPD lead for Discovery Schools Trust, Leicestershire. She tweets @Emma_Turner75