A smooth transition back to learning on site

The night before the first day of the school year or term is always a restless one for me and, quite often, I do not sleep well. For some unknown reason I always find it hard to get to sleep and cannot wait for the morning to come. Your child might or might not have had a similar approach to returning to school following 7+ weeks of distance learning and a Term 1 holiday break. The children’s time away from school has been longer than the usual summer holiday, so I expect children to experience a range of emotions from wanting to come back and see their friends and teachers, to wanting to stay at home, to being overly tired and excited.

I have done a lot of professional reading recently, which is something I enjoy and must do as an educator and leader. I need to stay up to date with trends, research and learn from other ‘thought leaders’ in education. What I have gleaned from my readings about how children could possibly react to returning to school and what educators need to do to assist this transitioning back is of upmost importance and that wellbeing is crucial.  You will have noticed Resilience project lessons continued during the distance learning and is a core element of our curriculum. It is essential to help the children develop emotional intelligence, give them vocabulary to express themselves, learn more about themselves as humans, and develop resilience.

Maggie Dent (a parenting expert and educator) talks about the importance of connection, calmness and cohesion in her excellent article, which I implore you to read. https://www.maggiedent.com/blog/schools-key-to-our-kids-recovery-why-the-3-cs-count-before-grades/

In her article https://www.raftpsychology.com/news/gyid0efdmvfmjw4r9xxly04rwrjd0o psychologist Dr Tara Quinlivan talks about the return to school, the many different ways in which anxiety can manifest itself in children, and elaborates on a trauma-based approach to assisting our children during this pandemic.

Please do keep in touch with your child’s teacher especially over these last few weeks of term. Let us know how your child is travelling. We have a couple of events before the end of term which the children can look forward to: House Cross Country and Casual Clothes (Blue/Green) day, organised by our Environment Captains Tiarni and Vienna.