SPOTLIGHT ON SEND Mental health in the


time of coronavirus In her final piece for Education Today, DR ASHA PATEL, CEO of education not-for-profit Innovating Minds, this month looks at student mental health during lockdown.


School closure was unthinkable, but it happened and now we are dealing with the fall out. We still know little about coronavirus, but we do know a lot about lockdown, isolation, family pressures and depression. Even before COVID-19, mental health was a major cause for


concern. Schools were appointing Mental Health Leads and becoming aware that they needed to build internal capacity for both staff and students who were feeling overwhelmed. For students it was exam stress, bullying, anxiety, social media, family problems among others. For staff it was workload, OFSTED, exclusions, concern for vulnerable students and for everyone it was a sense that there was just not enough support available. On March 18th the whole school sector shut down for an


indefinite period and news coverage was suddenly dominated by military imagery: battle, attack, defence, furlough, campaign, frontline staff. Now there are new pressures. According to Young Minds 26%of


the students who approached them have been unable to get help and 83% said that the pandemic and made their condition worse. Staff are worried about them but also have their own concerns around furlough, possible job losses plus financial worries. Many families are also experiencing ill health and bereavement. However, there have been some bright spots as well. Some


children with social anxiety are coping well because for the first time they are in the right environment. Now they don’t have the pressure of timetables, catching the bus, being in classes of 30, smells, noise and pressure. They can go at their own pace, get up and go to bed at times that are better suited to their circadian rhythms and organise their time to suit themselves. It is harder for the social butterflies in our schools who are missing


their friends, missing their teachers, conversations, a varied day with lots of different activities to keep them alert and entertained. While there are no quick and easy solutions to the current crisis,


now is the time for planning. Think about your goals and what is possible. Use our framework audit tool to see where you are and how you can move forward:


• Relationships should be at the heart of what you do. You can have the best systems in the world but if you do not have a good relationship with staff and students, you will fail • Look at ways your school can support and improve relationships with staff, parents and with students during the lockdown. How will you communicate? Text? Call? Social media? Website announcements? • Can you introduce a social element such as quizzes, caption competitions etc so it is not all about work? • Remember that behaviour is a form of communication and these are stressful times for everyone. Think before you react. Now is not the time for knee jerk reactions.


No one is expecting staff to become clinicians, but it is to be hoped that schools will try to develop a therapeutic approach that will serve them well when schools return later this year.


uhttps://www.myedupod.com May 2020 www.education-today.co.uk 19 More uncertainty


ahead for SEND pupils Regular Education Today contributor KATE SARGINSON, Deputy Headteacher and SENCO, this month looks at the challenges which lie ahead for children with special educational needs when schools reopen.


The coronavirus has resulted in an overhaul to our normal way of life, with educational provision being impacted significantly. At the time of writing, an official announcement has not yet been made about what schools reopening will look like and there is much speculation about the arrangements. For children with special educational needs who are either continuing to attend school or being educated at home, the current reality is both something new that has taken time to adjust to, and very likely to change again. There is the knowledge that how things are now, is not how it will always be; but a return to fully operational schooling is also some way off. With things so uncertain, what are the challenges particularly for those with additional learning needs?


Lockdown has required children’s education to be disrupted


and usual routines replaced with new ones. The dynamic has shifted at home as lounges become gyms, kitchens classrooms. Schools have endeavoured to provide as much consistency as possible through providing daily work, feedback and communication with pupils using online platforms, as well as working directly with children in school who need to attend. It may be difficult to remember a time before Covid; when hundreds of children came to school to learn and play together on a daily basis without a second thought. Relationships with one another, class teachers and teaching assistants, many of which have needed time to establish, have been interrupted and that loss of interaction has been felt keenly. Many children may have found themselves missing school more than they would have expected to, and long for a return to normal.


There is no simple answer to preparing for the next phase of


school closures, except to acknowledge that for many children with special educational needs it will entail new waves of uncertainty and unease. Another change to the routines that have only recently been established, perhaps a middle ground of not full home schooling but normal service is still not resuming for all. The inconsistency for some might be hard to understand; if only certain year groups return to school on certain days rather than everyone it may cause distress. There might have to be additional safety requirements in place in the school building that weren’t there before. Schools may feel unfamiliar and strange. How will children feel about risk if they see their teachers having to wear gloves or a mask, or still have to stay two metres apart, or have their temperature taken on arrival? Seeing these measures in person may exacerbate fears that perhaps weren’t as explicit when isolating at home. Teachers and school leaders are very conscious of these wider issues and questions, desiring to protect the health and well-being of their children and staff. There may be longstanding and wide ranging difficulties arising from the pandemic that we didn’t foresee; although a positive could be the heightened commitment educators have to minimising the negative impact these changes have on all children, finding new ways to support and simply being there to pick up the pieces.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36