Back to School 2020

August. The time of year where parents and carers begin dragging children around Tesco for new school uniforms. Children feel a mix of emotions as the summer holidays fly by, yet many primary age children excitedly talk about their new class teacher. Teachers spend hours carefully crafting their first week and meticulously preparing their classroom to welcome 30 new, smiling faces. Resources are prepared, with laminators and photocopiers coming out of hiatus to ensure students return to a colourful, exciting and engaging learning space. First year teachers stress out about every detail of having their first class. 

Or at least that's how it used to be. 

With many students having not set foot in a classroom since March due to COVID-19, this sure is going to be a September like no other. For some educators, students will continue staying away as colleges maintain online learning. For most educators and students though, September marks a return to in-person learning. A return to normal remains, it appears, a long way off. There will be no high fives for great work. No games of splat to help build those relationships that are universally crucial to successful teaching and learning. No games of tig or catch in the playground at break time.

The return to school is no doubt going to feel surreal and in many cases, often overwhelming for staff and students alike as we all adjust to this new normal. I am very aware that this year, taking time to build positive relationships will be particularly vital. That students will need more grace and more nurture as their overwhelm presents itself as challenging behaviour and lashing out.

This is the year where we must love our students more than ever and show them our 'deliberate botherdness' as Paul Dix calls it. To actively show them that they are loved. They are heard. They are safe. They are valued. They are understood. That not only day but for some pupils every lesson is a clean slate.

For me, this is something I am aiming to be particularly conscious of as I begin my first full year working in special education in what is only my third year of teaching since qualifying. Something I need to meditate on as children communicate through behaviour rather than words, sometimes violently. 

"Every child deserves a champion. An adult that will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be" said the late American educator Rita Pierson. This year, even more than ever, let's be those champions that refuse to give up. Let's make it a key part of our culture in the new normal.