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SecondaryHealth & Wellbeing

“Always open, always there” – Why post-pandemic schools have rediscovered their sense of purpose

Headteacher Neil Morris describes how his school’s experiences of the pandemic helped to centre the importance of ‘We’, over ‘I’…

Neil Morris
by Neil Morris
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SecondaryHealth & Wellbeing

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…

Dickens’ classic opening to a A Tale of Two Cities aptly sums up these turbulent pandemic years. A period of frequently chaotic change that’s tested not only our schools’ curriculums, but also our very culture.

Limping through January with just 15 teachers and student absences topping 180, knowing that COVID had seeped into every pore of our cold, windows-open school, it was easy for myself and my colleagues to feel isolated and lonely; masked inside our bubbles, and denied the sanctuary of a reassuring cuppa with familiar faces in a warm staffroom.

For many families and colleagues, it has absolutely been the worst of times – a trauma that will leave a legacy we’ll be living with for a number of years.

Dangerous territory

Right now, of course, everyone desires normality. There isn’t the appetite among the public at large to scrutinise the reality of how the pandemic is continuing to affect school populations. After all, according to our politicians, COVID has ‘finished’ – yet for the most vulnerable among us, this has been a period of regression, of withdrawing from shared public spaces and concentrating on themselves.

That’s an entirely understandable response, but it’s a step towards dangerous territory. We should never become beings concentrating solely on ‘I’, even if – in fact, especially if – prompted to do so from survival instincts. What can begin as a fully justified drive to look after yourself can, if left unchallenged, eventually give rise to extreme views and selfishness.

When times are difficult, we can’t afford to cut ourselves off. We need to be sociable and communicate regularly – ideally face to face, if we can – while not relying solely on social media and the alienating distance that can come with it.

Unsung heroes

Happily, however, we’ve seen some outstanding, and occasionally surprising examples of leadership and community work being quietly undertaken by a range of groups and organisations, much of which went unrecognised.

There was Chelsea FC, for example, contacting all of its living ex-players in the depths of the pandemic to check on in on their health and wellbeing and offer what support they could. Gary Neville offered free stays at his hotels for NHS health workers.

A more high profile example was, of course, the fabulous free school meals campaign Marcus Rashford was involved in, which refused to let families reliant on food banks be ignored or sidelined.

Constant reassurance

The COVID response within the education sector was, by contrast, much as you’d expect – spanning determined efforts to fill in the gaps left by counselling services, and efforts at delivering food parcels and distance learning equipment to those households needing them the most.

Yet arguably the most important role schools have played these past two years is that of providing constant reassurance to uncertain and anxious families, by being always open and always there, ready to listen at all times.

It’s my hope (and perhaps optimistic belief) that schools have now returned to the comparatively rarefied position they enjoyed back in the 1970s. A time when they were collectively viewed as a leading profession, places of purpose staffed by teams with a spirit of collaboration firmly at their core and wisely led. Then, as now, schools provide for our fabulous young people the best of times – which, if we can continue to work as a community, will soon be on the horizon.

Neil Morris is headteacher at Christopher Whitehead Language College & Sixth Form, Worcester

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