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Teaching in a post-covid world


By Alison Roclawski - Leader of LKS2, Year Six Teacher and Literacy Leader at Gildersome Primary School


Covid19 has brought huge effects on our world. None more so than in the education provisions and schools across the country. As a year six teacher, and leader of KS2 in a two-form entry school in Leeds, I have seen first-hand the long-term effects the pandemic and school closures have had on our pupils.


Initially, as a school, our biggest concern was ensuring our pupils received a carefully planned home learning curriculum. This took a lot of time and hard work from our teaching staff, who worked tirelessly to ensure all children, regardless of barriers in technology and varying personal circumstances were well catered for. We also wanted to ensure that our parents felt supported in their new roles, as educators at home.


Once we had ironed out home learning issues, we settled into a groove that worked for our school. Live learning via Microsoft Teams played a large part in this and it was all hands on deck to ensure pupils across our school were provided with the paper, reading books and stationery needed to support them at home.


At the time, I remember thinking that things could not get any harder than they already had been.


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At the time, I remember thinking that things could not get any harder than they already had been. We, as educators, were juggling the massive demands of lockdown learning, supporting our pupils through a difficult time and looking after our mental health. Not to mention trying to avoid catching the dreaded virus, with little to no PPE protection. My vivid memories of that time were that it felt frightening and that trying not to project those feelings onto the pupils in school was one of the most difficult tasks we faced.


As the various lockdowns passed, things were becoming easier for staff. Live lessons ran smoothly, key worker children were more relaxed and as a whole, it seemed we were adapting to the “new normal”.


Beginning the term in September 2021 felt refreshing. We could handle it - we told ourselves. We’d worked tirelessly through the most unprecedented times in recent history and had coped (for the most part!). Little did we know that the challenges of covid that we had been facing were just the tip of the iceberg, especially for our pupils and their families.


Resilience (something which as British people, we feel we have in droves) was dwindling - in some cases, it was non-existent. Children were tearful and anxious, more so than we had ever seen. In my 12 years of teaching in the primary sector, I had never come across so many children who desperately needed to access some form of support for their mental health.


Luckily we had somewhat anticipated this scenario and had ensured all staff had received bereavement training. We also timetabled half-termly meetings where we could discuss the specific well-being and support needs of each pupil in every year group. These initiatives helped us see the bigger picture of our school, however every


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