EDUCAT ION
The new normal FROM LIVESTREAMED LESSONS TO SOCIALLY DISTANT CLASSROOMS, LOCAL SCHOOLS REFLECT ON A UNIQUE MOMENT IN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY – AND CONSIDER ITS LASTING IMPACT
WORDS BY CHARLOTTE PHILLIPS
“Critical situations often lead to change, and I am sure that this recent experience will be no different.” School communities’ ability to rise to the challenge has been a constant theme. Despite worries about how children would adapt to lockdown, teachers at St Faith’s reported that pupils had reacted with impressive maturity, showing great resilience and independence and often faring far better than anticipated, making excellent progress in core subjects. It’s down to teachers and families working together to give children outstanding support, says headmaster Nigel Helliwell. “I’m proud of the staff
National lockdown may be over, at least for now, but the way schools work has changed, possibly forever. In preparation for the new term, they’ve been rethinking every aspect of school life. Just about everything we take for granted when it comes to schools, from assemblies to lessons, team sports to playtimes, has been taken apart and put back together again to ensure that every health and safety precaution has been taken. What has emerged is that doing things in a new way can sometimes bring other unexpected benefits. Not that this should come as a surprise, points out Chris Townsend, headmaster at Felsted School.
f you had to think of three words to describe schools’ capacity for change, ‘fast’, ‘surprising’ and ‘unexpected’ probably wouldn’t be among them. Prepare to give those preconceptions a makeover, because one thing that’s emerged from these extraordinary times is that schools can be all those things, and more. When schools shut back in March, teachers had to do things differently, innovate and evolve, and do it quickly – and they delivered. Almost overnight, they came up with new ways of communicating lessons, taking classes and keeping the pastoral side going, too.
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