WELLBEING
would still receive the high standard of education whilst we were away from the school campus . The news came that formal examinations would not be sat , for the vast majority of our hard working and academically driven students , this was devastating .
The UK moved into full lockdown and it became increasingly clear that any kind of public or group gathering would not be able to go ahead . Students began to realise that future plans such as parties , holidays , and festivals would also be cancelled and that they would miss out on the collective celebrations and rites of passage that mark the end of formal stages of their education . The impact of these announcements , the sudden removal of the structures and social interactions of the formal school day and the fear surrounding the spread of the Covid-19 virus were going to take a huge toll on the mental health of young people . Health care providers were increasingly worried about the impact of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown on the mental health of children and young people . Several eminent institutions ( University of Oxford 2020 ) ran online surveys to gauge the impact on young people .
Supporting student wellbeing during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Penny Hargreaves , Head of PSHE
As the Covid-19 spread through Europe , the chances of us getting to the official end of term seemed increasingly slight . There was a lot of uncertainty and fear and when students turned to staff for reassurance and answers , it was difficult to give them what they wanted . We did not have the answers , we did not know what was going to happen , but we did not want to alarm them . What none of us really comprehended at the time was that what was happening in the wider world was going to have a profound effect on all of us .
When the school made the decision to close early there was an initial sense of excitement and relief . The students were jubilant at the idea of an extra week of holiday , they compared it to ‘ Snow Days ’ – extra , unscheduled days of holiday . Our initial focus was on student academic learning – making sure that students
Of course , the impact on wellbeing was not just restricted to young people . Research by Simetrica-Jacobs and LSE into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of people found ‘ substantially worse levels of wellbeing and psychological distress across the UK in April 2020 , compared with the same period in 2019 .’ ( p . 3 )
For our students , lockdown and social distancing were going to be emotionally testing . Students were used to balancing their social media and online activity with physically being and socialising with their friends . Face to face interactions are incredibly important for all of us but especially so for young people who are used to being surrounded by their peers at school . It was therefore increasingly obvious that we would also need to focus on supporting our students ’ emotional and mental wellbeing through this crisis .
As any initial feelings of euphoria at finishing school earlier and not having to sit exams , quickly moved on to disappointment , anger and futility , we needed to provide guidance and reassurance . On reading an interview with David Kessler ( Berinato 2020 ), I began to consider that pupils were experiencing grief . Kessler is an expert on grief :
‘ We ’ re feeling a number of different griefs . We feel the world has changed , and it has . We know this is temporary , but it doesn ’ t feel that way , and we realize things will be different … The loss of normalcy ; the fear of economic toll ; the loss of connection . This is hitting us and we ’ re grieving . Collectively . We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air .’
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