I’m worried about my child returning to school after lockdown

I’m worried about what will happen when my children go back to school. Some children I know have been doing many hours of work each day while others have done nothing at all! How will the staff deal with such a huge range of abilities? I’m worried my child won’t be stretched enough and will have to complete very basic, boring tasks while waiting for others to catch up.

You may be right when it comes to the variety of experiences our children are going through during lockdown. There must be some children who have been working at home on school-based tasks for many hours a day, supported by parents with lots of free time and an endless supply of exciting and engaging ideas! Well, perhaps there are one or two children in the UK who have had this experience! The vast majority of children I have been dealing with during the lockdown are doing some school work and then having lots of time off, playing on their gadgets, watching YouTube, going on occasional family walks and experiencing this strange new way of life that we have all been trying to adjust to. And I do know of some children that have done no schoolwork whatsoever and have spent the entire time online, hardly ever leaving the house or getting any exercise.

There isn’t much we can do about this overall picture except to do the best we can for our own families in our own unique situations. Good parenting is always a prioritising and balancing of tasks. We cannot be outstanding at everything. We all have to compromise based on our values and personal circumstances. What I believe we will have to do when we send our children back to school is to be brave and to trust the professional teaching teams to get it right. 

Once our children return to school the teaching staff’s number one priority will be safeguarding your children, physically and emotionally. Then will come their learning. Teachers are experts at this. You may be surprised to learn that any year 6 class will have a huge range of ability represented within it; some children working at perhaps year one level or below and a few others working at the level of teenagers in a secondary school. This is always the case. Once children return from lockdown, this will be no different. Teachers are trained to plan appropriate levels of work and engage the children. School leaders monitor the effectiveness of this on a regular basis and all school staff are held to account in this area by a range of stakeholders including you as parents, school governing bodies and of course OFSTED. If you were happy with your child’s school before lockdown it is highly likely you will be happy with the way they move forward afterwards.

Adjusting to change is often very difficult for adults and children. Here at the Emotional Logic Centre we train people in the healthy adjustment process. We teach a technique that you can learn and pass onto others. You can use Emotional Logic to help yourself and your family increase their emotional intelligence and increase their resilience and adaptability. If you would like to know more about how we can help you, please contact us.

Written by Christiaan Stirling, COO Emotional Logic Centre