Tents Could Be Used to Support Return To School After Lockdown

Social distancing could be maintained with a concept already trialled successfully in Denmark

**Above: proposed pop-up classrooms including hand washing facilities (© Darc Studio)**

London-based architecture studio, Curl la Tourelle Head Architecture (CLTH) has released a new concept to help mitigate restricted circulation routes within schools and maintain the necessary social distancing among pupils and staff when schools reopen. This follows the latest announcement from the UK government on its plans to allow primary schools in England to reopen to select year groups from June.

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      string(372) "... Professional Development Activity:Using the information provided above, work with colleagues to consider whether people with anxiety have heightened senses? If so, how will your school support this when the children return to school?Would it be appropriate for lesson starters to be linked to sensory integration?What else could ..."
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      string(5713) "disorders at one point in their lives.vii The relationship between anxiety and eating disorders is well established. Being able to control an aspect of one’s life, even food, exercise or weight can relieve symptoms related to anxiety for a short period of time. These ‘controlling’ behaviours become a coping mechanism for the cause of anxiety responses.Orri, a specialist service for eating disorders, reported that an increase of enquiries in July 2020 were 92% higher than February 2020. This indicates that many more children are experience heightened levels of anxiety and a growth of controlling behaviours to feel safe during these uncertain times. It may also suggest that the reduced exercise opportunities, closed sports teams, PE sessions or limited opportunities to exercise outdoors has directed a ‘compromise’ to control food intake. Caregivers being more present may also of help identified unhealthy eating or exercise habits.So it is clear that some of our students are living and experiencing adverse experiences due to Covid-19. The Prince’s Trust (have reported that a quarter of young people felt unable to cope with life and almost a third have experienced panic attacks. These figures indicate that one in three children are struggling to think clearly. It is clear to see why some students may then disengage with digital classrooms.viiiSelf-harmAnother symptom of anxiety is the urge to self-harm.ix Many studies have shown that social and generalised anxiety have a high likelihood of leading into self-harm behaviours. Self-harm tends to be related to emotions linked to events or emotional pain/trauma.x Since heightened anxiety characteristics are associated to emotions of being overwhelmed or worried about not able to handle life situations, a self-harm act can bring short relief from those anxious feelings. It may also be used as a behaviour to ‘focus the mind’ outside of the racing thoughts or a way to ‘regain’ feeling from long-term anxiety when one feels numb.In some instances, this is associated with suicidal ideation and more. In other cases, it is based on difficulties expressing their feelings verbally and ‘hurting’ themselves is a ‘coping with life’ strategy compared to an ‘end of life’ goal. Self-harm isn’t always a suicide attempt or a cry for attention. However, it can be a way for someone to cope with overwhelming feelings, distressing thoughts or emotions. Self-harm should be taken seriously, whatever the reason behind it.Place2Be, a national charity for children has reported a 77% of secondary school children are self-harming and 81% increase of suicide ideation.xi Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England has ‘’urged schools to prioritise wellbeing at this time.’’ xiiReflective Questions: learning from our student’s experiencesAre there things you need to plan for before the students return back to our provision or plan differently due to these responses?Can you access funding or services in the Local area to support this growing need?Who can you contact or work with to take this forward?Professional Development Activity:Using the information provided above, work with colleagues to consider whether people with anxiety have heightened senses? If so, how will your school support this when the children return to school?Would it be appropriate for lesson starters to be linked to sensory integration?What else could you consider and implement?How will you know if it has been effective?Implications for practiceWhat can we do to support with students with emotional needs and heightened levels of anxiety in virtual and online learning?The impact of Covid-19 is still at the forefront of our minds. Everyone feels different emotions and react differently towards the outbreak. Children may have been exposed to emotions and behavioural responses that they have never felt before due to these uncertain times. We need children to understand that it is ‘normal‘ to have feelings and body reactions to situations and adults need to actively listen to children’s worries and concerns.Teaching self-regulation strategies will strengthen the child’s skills in managing difficult emotions. 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Inclusion

How To Support The Emotional Needs Of Students Through Lockdown

24 Jun 2021

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      string(5732) "As a trainee teacher, I often needed a bit of extra cash to pay for my rock climbing habit. Fortunately, I was training at the height of London Challenge so my schools’ pockets were rather deeper than they are at the moment. That meant I could opt to sacrifice a few days’ holiday and teach some lessons over the break in return for an extra payment. A few days of these payments easily funded a drive up to the Lake District and a pitch for my tent, with a few pounds left over for a pint or two of Wainwright Ale at the Old Dungeon Ghyll pub.How much things have changed in the nearly 15 years since then. The funding gates have snapped shut, London Challenge is a distant memory, and that’s before even mentioning the mass closures that have come with the covid pandemic.What doesn’t seem to have changed, is teacher’s willingness to go into schools over the summer holidays, and many schools are counting on this willingness as part of their strategy for helping pupils bounce back from the lockdown. Nearly two-thirds of teachers told TeacherTapp that they would be willing to work as part of summer schools in the upcoming break.It’s therefore no surprise that last week, the charity Teach First submitted evidence to the Education Select Committee advocating summer schools as a means of providing “intensive catch up”. Chief Executive Russell Hobby said:“Fully resourcing summer schools, particularly in the most disadvantaged communities, will be essential to getting the support to the children who need it most…. Summer schools are one way to provide the foundations to re-engage pupils with ongoing school life, re-establishing routines so that when schools fully resume young people can hit the ground running with learning.”However schools planning summer activities should not expect a quick fix. Whilst there is evidence to suggest that summer provision can yield 2-4 months of additional progress, some studies show limited academic impact and effectiveness seems to depend on how they are delivered. If summer schools are intended to help the most disadvantaged pupils, there can also be considerable difficulties ensuring the right students turn up. That’s why Stuart Lock, Chief Executive of Advantage Schools, a MAT in Bedford argues that:“This is not the first time summer provision has been on the agenda and money was thrown at this in the past. The problem was that as well as being expensive, firstly, the most needy did not turn up and secondly, it didn’t work for those that did. That’s why it was scrapped… Overall I therefore think it is a bad bet and I can’t see it working”Like Stuart, I certainly recall that when I used to return home from a class during the holidays, I was infinitely less tired than after a normal school day because the pupils who had sat in front of me were rarely the most challenging.So what should schools do if they want to try and help their pupils bounce back during summer 2020? Well, the Centre for Education and Youth has today published a new report to support school leaders who are grappling with exactly that question. As well as calling on the government to properly fund any national roll out, it makes three recommendations to schools.In the report we set out some of the ways this summer will differ from ‘normal’ summers and why this will require a different approach to usual when balancing academic and social-emotional content. Thus, today’s report builds on last months’ report “Supporting Vulnerable Young People through Covid-19”.We also argue that although any provision should be open to all, it is important to work with other services to reach out to the most vulnerable pupils, as Janice Allen, a Head Teacher in Rochdale explains:“An important consideration is making sure that any academic catch up doesn’t feel like a punishment by unfairly targeting more disadvantaged pupils. The message can’t be… ‘you are disadvantaged so we want you to give up your holidays and work on your English and Maths’ That’s why working with partners is so important, and why it has to be part of the universal offer. We can then use our knowledge of our pupils, alongside existing relationships to encourage pupils to participate.”Finally, we argue that pupils transitioning between phases of schooling risk being particularly disadvantaged by school closures. 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Hopefully today’s report will provide that and mean that any schools going above and beyond by teaching their pupils this summer can maximise the impact of their efforts.About The AuthorLoic Menzies (@LoicMnzs) is Chief Executive of The Centre for Education and Youth (CfEY). He has worked in education research, evaluation"
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Blogs

Can Summer Schools Help Disadvantaged Pupils Bounce Back from Covid?

11 May 2020

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      string(5711) "The government is being very coy now about whether schools should return at all after the holidays and what will  likely be a full national lockdown,  or at least the imposition of Tier Fours across most of the country. This, just  one week after threatening schools and their local authorities with legal action if they  dared to stay closed after Coronorvirus took hold of their populations. This is how it is with this government; they ring out  rigid, unthinking mantras like ‘the schools must stay open’ and ‘we cant cancel Christmas’ only to recant when the situation demands more flexibility.Their defence is ‘ events dear boy, events’.  But when it comes to schools the government has consistently flouted one of its foremost principles to ‘follow the science’, as  study after study has been  showing that schools and children are major vectors of the disease.The lockdowns that don’t shut the schools tend to fail and it is because schools – particularly secondary schools but primary  also seem to have a role – are close knit, enclosed, communities  that bring people together in very large numbers. Look at disastrous secondary attendance rates in secondary schools  in tier 3 schools. This vector has started knocking out primary school teachers who have teenage children.In terms of ‘he science’ schools have always been more dangerous than non-essential retail and pubs. But, the social consequences, it is argued,  are  too great for disadvantaged children stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide.It certainly  is  truethat online learning tended to work  bestwith those middle class children with kit and connectivity and engaged parentssupervising them. Yet It would seem that  the government’s attempts to ‘level-up’ the playingfield by providing  laptops to those thatneed them has fallen, say heads,  woefullyshort,  and the programme seems  now to have been cut considerably.Even if they got the kit, the connectivity isn’t necessarily there, nor might be the motivation to the same extent as their middle class peers. Therefore, the argument goes,  schools have to stay open and spread the disease …and also, by the way, we have to stick to exams, even heavily compromised ones, because ’we must have  exams’.So fixated is the government on their dogma that they have asked  schools  to become  mass-testing centres, using untrained volunteers to administer and process  complex tests which would still miss  50 per cent of highly infectious cases. There must be a better, more creative way of  recognising that schools are major vectors if the virus and that not schooling the under-privileged is too high a social price to pay.So here is our Modest Proposal! Why don’t schools, when they do return,  send home  to study those children who have the kit, connectivity and support at home and keep the ones that don’t at school!  Or, use Pupil Premium pupils as the group that stays in schools, with some exceptions either way.In this way the children that most needdirect contact with teachers and a formal support structure the most – the lessadvantaged children ( read working-class) – would get privileged access toteacher resources and could even make up some of the ground they have lostIt would also, of course, provide a lower density  of human beings, more easily socially distanced,  in a safer environment.Those middle-class children with the kitand connectivity are also most likely to have parents in white collar jobs andable to more easily supervise children at home…although after 14 is closesupervision really required? Children could form study bubbles with one or twoclose friends at home – perhaps congregated around the child with the bestfacilities. There could even be a little social engineering here – with less well-off children studying at home or in street hubs alongside their better-off peers.  It would need careful negotiation but if mixed-ability teaching can work in school, why not at homeAnother benefit of this Modest Proposal is that teachers could discern  from the residual groups at school, those most able to  benefit from access to upgraded kit and connectivity,  and so target scarce resources  at these children.‘Oh, but wont the poor children stuck at school feel stigmatised?’ Maybe, but any child with a special social or learning need’ is  treated differently and is aware of this , from free school meals onwards. It is simply a way of realistically recognising the social and digital divide that exists, and doing something about it. It is hard-nosed, positive discrimination.Once a week ….possibly even a Saturday –children working at home could meet their teachers for small group or personaltutoring – grammar and private schools study on Saturday after all. Or, itcould be an  afternoon or a day when theschool-based children have a day off – one day off is a lot easier to managethan every day out of school.There are two other reasons why this Modest Proposal is worth considering.  Headteachers wouldn’t  have to ask permission to do this from a  government trapped in its own red-lines and dogmas – schools are technically open and just managing learning in a more Covid-secure way.Secondly, it could become a permanent feature of our schooling, with very positive impacts for children with less cultural and financial capital at their"
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Blogs

A Modest Proposal For Schools After Christmas

23 Dec 2020

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      string(4383) "so much learning, just a different kind.The last response above is an interesting one, and as school practitioners it will be important that we value, and show that we value, all of the new skills and learning that our students have gained which may sit outside of the formal curriculum. For many of our students with SEN, they have had the opportunity to focus on developing very important independent life-skills. These include planning and cooking meals for their family, teaching themselves about areas of interest in detail, and consolidating basic literacy and numeracy skills to develop a greater understanding and confidence. All of this needs to be acknowledged and valued by the school setting and used to support further positive progress and increases in confidence and skills for the individual student.Regular contacts with key staffAnother important aspect that parents commonly reported worked well through the lockdown experience was the regular contacts that they had with key staff whilst the students were learning from home.In the regular school context, this direct contact occurs naturally in the interactions that we have with our students in their lessons and around the school. However, in the unnatural context that we found ourselves in with schools closing, we quickly developed systems and processes for continuing that direct liaison and contact, albeit virtually. Direct mentoring and intervention sessions were therefore set up on virtual platforms to enable some continuity and consistency with key SEN targets and provision, as well as regular informal ‘check-in’s’. Actually, it was the regular informal ‘check-in’s with students and their parents that were particularly valued and which, in a busy secondary school, many parents do not receive. Many of our parents valued and appreciated our weekly email check-in’s and, even if they did not have any concerns, appreciated hearing from us and having that direct contact with us.This will therefore need to be something that we consider developing and continuing in the return to school- how can we establish and embed this in a meaningful and effective way, once we are all back in school?Reflective QuestionsWhat do you currently know about the experience of students with SEN and their parents with SEN? Has this been largely positive or negative? How do you know? How could you use this information to inform the development of practice in your school setting? Professional Development ActivityHaving reflected on the strategies and findings presented above, work with colleagues to identify ways that you can work with students with SEN and their parents to find out more about their experiences through lockdown.   Try to identify the aspects of virtual learning that worked for students with SEN and that they valued; and any aspects that they have identified that give you more information about their underlying needs and ways that they need support.   Think about ways that their insights can impact on the positive development of elements of practice and provision in your school setting moving forward. What will you take forward? How? Who will you need to work with to do this?    In Part 2 these discussions will be developed further by considering ways to use the unique insights provided by the recent lockdown and virtual learning experiences of our students with SEN to plan for their successful return to school and to review existing practices and systems embedded in our schools to question how effective they are and ways to further reduce barriers to learning for all students.Alison Ekins  is Director of SEN, Valley Invicta Academy Trust and Head of Foundation Learning Department, Valley Park SchoolReferences[i]DfES (2001) SEN Code of Practice, London, DfES.DfE/ DoH (2015) SEN and Disability Code of Practice, London, DfE/DoH.[ii] DfE (2013) Teachers’ Standards: Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies, DFE, London[iii] Ainscow, M., Booth, T. and Dyson, A. (2006) Improving Schools, Developing Inclusion. Oxon: Routledge.[iv] Delamont, S and Atkinson, P. (1995) Fighting Familiarity: Essays on Education and Ethnography. New Jersey: Hampton Press."
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'How to do it' Guides

How To Remove Barriers To Learning For SEN Children - Lessons From Lockdown

12 Apr 2021

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