Teachers, parents and children are overwhelmingly happy, excited and grateful at the prospect of returning to school in September after a difficult lockdown, a top headteacher said today.
David Benson, head of Kensington Aldridge Academy, said lockdown has been “undeniably damaging” and there is a real desire among teachers to make the reopening next month work.
Mr Benson, whose school is next to the Grenfell Tower, said: “I think it’s wrong to characterise students as being traumatised or lacking in confidence. The overwhelming majority are happy and excited to return. Parents and teachers trust the Covid safety measures in school. There is a desire to make it work. It’s not being talked about enough.”
He said teachers are excited at the prospect of seeing their pupils on exam results days and added: “Things like results day and September are really filling teachers with a sense of excitement after a difficult period.”
At the beginning of lockdown in March Kensington Aldridge Academy (KAA) gave 500 students laptops to help them work at home. But the school closure has been hard. Mr Benson said poorer children are less likely to have the space and encouragement to work at home. He added: “Even if everything is perfect, online learning requires a very high level of independence and motivation which teenagers don’t always have.”
The school is running summer holiday clubs funded with £20,000 from the John Lyon’s charity and the school’s Intrepidus Trust. He said: “Parents are grateful, kids are excited to come in.”
The school has introduced a timetable where children are kept in year group bubbles, and mostly stay in one classroom while teachers change rooms. Children in Years Seven and Eight will move back into the temporary school that was built for KAA students after the Grenfell Tower fire.
Mr Benson called on exams watchdog Ofqual to delay next year’s GCSE and A-level exams by a few weeks to enable more teaching time.
