Plans are being drawn up to help schools prepare for the return of pupils when lockdown restrictions are eased.
Pajes, the Jewish Leadership Council’s schools network, has set up a working party of headteachers and medics to advise schools. And Dr Mark Berelowitz, child and adolescent psychiatrist at London’s Royal Free Hospital, will share guidance on “transitioning to a new normal”.
A “Back 2 School” programme has also been commissioned from the Heads Up Kids team who run wellbeing training in schools.
Pajes executive director Rabbi David Meyer said: “The challenges facing our school leaders at this time are unprecedented. They have to consider the health and wellbeing of students and staff as well as endeavouring to deliver school-based and remote learning programmes.”
The “Back 2 School” programme will be available free to all primary schools to manage the return to the classroom.
Heads Up Kids, founded by Norwood consultants Andy Hugh and Claire Godley, has already been working for a year with Pajes to train teachers on how to nurture pupils’ wellbeing.
“It is a ten-day process that will give children the opportunity to process what’s happened to them and get used to the changes,” Mrs Hugh said.
“We recognise that children’s experiences over the past weeks are going to be hugely different. Some will have had a terrible time at home with their parents having financial difficulties, or with family members falling ill or passing away.
“At the other end of the spectrum, mum and dad will have been available for the children and they would have done wonderful baking or gone on family bike rides.
“Schools know their children well and will have a sense of what has been going on. Nevertheless, there are always children who slip through the net and this process highlights the children who need more support.”
At the same time, talking through their experiences could help pupils appreciate how they dealt with difficulty and foster resilence.
Rabbi Meyer said parents realised the “exceptionally challenging situation. By working together, we will find effective solutions that ensure the needs of our children are met.”
