At the same time, the school maintained regular and substantial communication with homes and placed an even greater emphasis on safeguarding and student welfare. As a Head of Year focusing on transition, my priority was to work to minimise the inevitable impact that lockdown would have on a successful transition from primary to high school. That involved lots of communication with parents, students and primary schools through phone calls and online conferences. It also meant providing online experiences for students through the ‘Transition Zone’ on the school website, an online Induction Day on the final Thursday before holidays, and transition activity booklets to be sent out.

Preparing to support the well-being of students in September was a key whole school focus in our final half term, and the subject for several CPDs and team meetings. We have developed a recovery curriculum for September, drawing on Barry Carpenter’s research on the ‘5 losses’ to routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom following trauma. In my view, it is appropriate that schools acknowledge this trauma and work therapeutically with students to ‘recover’ from the losses brought on or exacerbated by the pandemic, whilst recognising that return to routine and structure – getting back to normal – is of real importance. How to navigate these seemingly contradictory objectives will no doubt have been a focus for many schools.

What priorities should teachers and school leaders have over the summer?

In many ways I think the answer to this question is the same as it always is. Summer needs to be a time where teachers switch off from work – and we are in a very privileged position to have this time each year in order to do that. It can definitely make us better at our jobs in the long run. 

This summer, I think it will be more difficult than normal to do that. As so many have gotten used to working – at least in part – from home, that physical separation from school and home life has, to some extent, fallen away and this has certainly made it more difficult to make a ‘clean break’. I found myself checking school emails on Monday, and even absent-mindedly opening the electronic sign in sheet we had been using. In recent years, many leaders have acted to support teacher well-being by banning work emails at weekends and holidays, by giving more time for strategic planning in term time and by incorporating well-being practices into CPD and INSET days, which goes a long way. 

What priorities should schools have as the new school year begins?

Teachers, leaders and schools interested in social justice and social equity need recognise the urgency of addressing prejudice and discrimination in schools. This requires schools to acknowledge that they operate within broader societal structures. 

Due to the significance of the historical moment we find ourselves in today, this means leaders and teachers making anti-racism an active priority in their schools. To start, schools need to reflect and clarify what it actually means to be anti-racist as an institution. The problem isn’t going to be solved by an ‘an-assembly-here-a-lesson-there’ approach. To promote anti-racism in schools means to look at the fabric of the organisation itself, from curriculum to staff attitudes, recruitment to funding. Two facts are true of schools in England today: while 25% of pupils in English schools are from ethnic minorities, 93% of heads are white British; 62% of black Britons believe that the education system has a culture of racism. There are systemic issues that need addressing. Schools do not exist in isolation to the rest of society and are in fact often reactive agents within it. For schools to move towards becoming anti-racist, it will mean supporting societal change as a whole and recognising the voices, experiences and values of those who have traditionally been disenfranchised by mainstream education – and crucially, making this part of the way the school operates, not as a one off, impermanent measure. This will inevitably mean teachers challenging themselves and changing aspects of what they do. A priority for leaders in the next academic year is to work with staff to recognise this. 

At the same time, the school maintained regular and substantial communication with homes and placed an even greater emphasis on safeguarding and student welfare. As a Head of Year focusing on transition, my priority was to work to minimise the inevitable impact that lockdown would have on a successful transition from primary to high school. That involved lots of communication with parents, students and primary schools through phone calls and online conferences. It also meant providing online experiences for students through the ‘Transition Zone’ on the school website, an online Induction Day on the final Thursday before holidays, and transition activity booklets to be sent out.

Preparing to support the well-being of students in September was a key whole school focus in our final half term, and the subject for several CPDs and team meetings. We have developed a recovery curriculum for September, drawing on Barry Carpenter’s research on the ‘5 losses’ to routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom following trauma. In my view, it is appropriate that schools acknowledge this trauma and work therapeutically with students to ‘recover’ from the losses brought on or exacerbated by the pandemic, whilst recognising that return to routine and structure – getting back to normal – is of real importance. How to navigate these seemingly contradictory objectives will no doubt have been a focus for many schools.

What priorities should teachers and school leaders have over the summer?

In many ways I think the answer to this question is the same as it always is. Summer needs to be a time where teachers switch off from work – and we are in a very privileged position to have this time each year in order to do that. It can definitely make us better at our jobs in the long run. 

This summer, I think it will be more difficult than normal to do that. As so many have gotten used to working – at least in part – from home, that physical separation from school and home life has, to some extent, fallen away and this has certainly made it more difficult to make a ‘clean break’. I found myself checking school emails on Monday, and even absent-mindedly opening the electronic sign in sheet we had been using. In recent years, many leaders have acted to support teacher well-being by banning work emails at weekends and holidays, by giving more time for strategic planning in term time and by incorporating well-being practices into CPD and INSET days, which goes a long way. 

What priorities should schools have as the new school year begins?

Teachers, leaders and schools interested in social justice and social equity need recognise the urgency of addressing prejudice and discrimination in schools. This requires schools to acknowledge that they operate within broader societal structures. 

Due to the significance of the historical moment we find ourselves in today, this means leaders and teachers making anti-racism an active priority in their schools. To start, schools need to reflect and clarify what it actually means to be anti-racist as an institution. The problem isn’t going to be solved by an ‘an-assembly-here-a-lesson-there’ approach. To promote anti-racism in schools means to look at the fabric of the organisation itself, from curriculum to staff attitudes, recruitment to funding. Two facts are true of schools in England today: while 25% of pupils in English schools are from ethnic minorities, 93% of heads are white British; 62% of black Britons believe that the education system has a culture of racism. There are systemic issues that need addressing. Schools do not exist in isolation to the rest of society and are in fact often reactive agents within it. For schools to move towards becoming anti-racist, it will mean supporting societal change as a whole and recognising the voices, experiences and values of those who have traditionally been disenfranchised by mainstream education – and crucially, making this part of the way the school operates, not as a one off, impermanent measure. This will inevitably mean teachers challenging themselves and changing aspects of what they do. A priority for leaders in the next academic year is to work with staff to recognise this. 

I see Teams as a massive interactive classroom that brings a presentation, teachers and students together, allowing all of us to communicate in real time, responding to the needs, answers and questions that arise there and then.

Teams has allowed me to be able to assess pupils quicker than in a normal classroom environment. I can see their responses in the chat instantly, I can provide instant feedback and their peers can read and like their comments too. The pupils are instantly rewarded by their teacher and others too, which benefits the pupil’s self-esteem and wellbeing.

I like the way Teams give their pupils the opportunity to shine, to be the fastest person to respond to a question in the chat and to be able to participate more freely than they might well do at school.

I also like the way Teams has allowed pupils to have a sense of normality by hearing their teacher’s voice and seeing their faces on the screen, direct to their homes.

Teams has allowed the delivery of my lessons to develop and change for the better. I have evolved my lessons to include activities that engage and allow greater pupil participation. Pupils have shown they enjoy speed rounds, multiple choice questions, playing games and quizzes and using the functions that Teams has to offer like the ‘raise your hand’ button.

Sharing hyperlinks in the chat for pupils to watch clips or having a Microsoft Form to complete at the start or end of the lesson has also enhanced the learning experience of Teams. I can definitely see Teams continuing to be a firm part of the remote teaching and learning experience for the foreseeable future!

My 5 top tips for delivering lessons on Teams:

1. Plan a lesson that is going to allow for the most pupil participation, what works well in a classroom situation might not transfer to teams, you want to know they are taking part and are not passive, so use the chat function as much as possible within your lesson.

2. Talk to your pupils during the lesson, read the comments they make in the chat and use their names to verbally praise them; this gives them instant feedback and makes them more involved in the lesson.

3. Use emojis to respond to the pupils’ comments. If you are team teaching with another member of staff use the time that they are delivering to like and love the comments that are being generated in the chat. This gives the pupils instant feedback.

4. Make sure you are mixing your style of questions up; use multiple choice, speed rounds, games like picture reveal, who/what am I, wait time questions; to make sure that the pupils do not get bored of just listening to you read from a screen.

5. Use YouTube clips or video links in the chat for pupils to watch short extracts independently to be a time saver; this stops the transferring over of sharing a screen, and less likely for sound or lagging issues.

The summer term was a dystopian limbo. I was trapped at home, frustrated by the inanity of relentless parenting, with few breaks where I could use my brain, connect with my students, or be myself. Torn between the wry humour of responding to eye-rolling obvious questions on Google Classrooms and sudden, shocking fear of the realities of the global pandemic, I didn’t know how to feel, how to react, how to be. 

I went from missing my students desperately, worrying about their potentially harrowing lives under lockdown, hoping for a speedy return to the classroom, to panicking about the safety of us all in the inevitably close proximity of the school setting, and feeling the pressure of being compelled to support with bubbles in the final weeks of term. The whirlwind of putting in shifts at school as well as still providing full time childcare as a parent, and continuing to set ever more substantial online lessons (with disappointingly poor take-up) found me overwhelmed, and starting to feel helplessly down at the impossible seeming logistics of juggling the obligations to my family, my school, and to myself. 

Needless to say, it was my own self care that was sidelined to maintain the status quo. The summer holidays, and the guiltily sweet respite of my child starting nursery, couldn’t come soon enough. 

What priorities should teachers and school leaders have over the summer holidays? 

I cannot fathom how school leaders have managed all of the above situations, alongside responding to updated government guidance without delay, knowing that every decision carries with it the oppressive weight of responsibility of potentially risking (or saving) lives of each member of your community. For me, the priority over the summer holidays for all teachers and school leaders is to attempt to switch off after the most mentally and emotionally draining school year ever. 

Surely now, more than ever, the importance of self-care, of recharging that struggling battery, of fitting one’s own oxygen mask first, must be given the time and respect it deserves. The temptation, the necessity, to continue to tweak, to adjust, to consider and reconsider the plans for September must be put on hold for at least a couple of weeks. There will be time (and no doubt, further updates to guidance) towards the end of August. Although the sickening lurch of the realities of September looms, for now, at least, be still. 

Have entire days where you do not utilise a screen for work purposes, you do not have a conversation with a colleague, lovely though they may be, and where, please, you do not sit bolt upright in bed in the middle of the night realising that you’ve misinterpreted a key piece of guidance, and spend hours awake fretfully contemplating the impact this has on September. 

What priorities should schools have as the new school year begins? What strategies should be implemented? 

The return of all year groups to school in September signpost a new era – one of relief, recovery and above all, hope. Hope that perhaps finally we are safe enough to move back to ‘normal’, and continue our core business as educators. 

Therefore, for me, the key priority schools must have as the new school year begins is clear: to support our students and communities into re-establishing strong routines, where consistency is the behaviour we must promote and exemplify. ‘Business as usual’ is not quite the right maxim here – however the idea of ‘setting the weather’ is crucial. A positive, firm, beginning rooted in high expectations is what our learners crave after this period of uncertainty. 

With this approach however, we must remember to weave in our empathy skills – conscious awareness of our students and colleagues’ moods and needs will enable us to take the temperature, and respond accordingly. Being investigative of our own behaviors during this time is vital. Catching those unconscious signposts to something being wrong: being too quick to flashes of anger over something inconsequential; finding little enjoyment in our passion; feeling disassociated from the day to day, require us to urgently step in to regain a sense of grounding, and will only be of benefit to those around us. 

Resisting the urge and pressure to instil ‘catch up’ interventions that will be taxing on both students and colleagues, as these are often high input for relatively low impact. Try to ease the pressure, with regular low stakes assessment to discover any gaps, and support and trust their teachers to do what they do best – expert teaching resulting in high quality learning. Use this approach of little and often to collect evidence should we ever need to utilise it to provide our students with CAGs in the future.

And finally, the last few months have honed our focus on the importance of adaptability. Know that whatever comes, we have demonstrated flexibility beyond all imagination – and we can do so again.