The beginning of this summer term comes in radiant sunshine and yet under a grim cloud. Pupils remain home for the foreseeable future. Schools, however, remain open. Many have been operating throughout the holidays so that the most vulnerable children and the children of critical workers can continue to be supported and cared for. At the time of going to press we do not know when the majority of pupils will go back. This is for everyone’s safety – the more contact people have with each other, the more opportunities the virus will have to spread, the more people will become ill, be hospitalised and die. We still all have a duty to stay at home, protect the NHS, and save lives.
The Government has set five tests that must be met before lockdown can be eased. First, we must protect the NHS’s ability to cope, and be sure that it can continue to provide critical care and specialist treatment across the UK. Second, we need to see the daily death rates from Covid-19 come down. Third, we need to know that the rate of infection is falling to manageable levels. Fourth, we need to be confident that testing capacity and PPE can meet future demands. And fifth, we need to be confident that any changes will not increase the risk of a second peak in infections.
The Department for Education have published an initial list of high quality online educational resources including how to support physical and mental wellbeing and materials for teaching children with special educational needs and disabilities. Some of our leading state schools have collaborated to open The Oak National Academy, which launched online on 20 April. This is a totally new initiative, led by 40 brilliant teachers who have assembled video lessons and resources for any teacher in the country to make use of if they wish to do so. 180 video lessons will be provided each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10.
This is a profoundly strange time for all of us – perhaps especially the nation’s young people for whom the frustration of being cooped up indoors will be terrible. But, difficult though it will be, this can still be an extraordinary opportunity to read and to discover, to learn and to prepare for the better years ahead – to not waste the odd gift of time that this crisis has forced into our hands.