Learning from an Island in lockdown by Tracy Morgan

In the beginning there was a school. A school in an island community working hard to provide the best outcomes for its pupils. Then Covid-19 struck. At first, seemingly something that was happening on the other side of the world, we saw it creeping towards us like an unknown eerie shadow, not knowing when it would arrive or the impact that it would have. With a population of around 146,000 and one relatively small general hospital, reliant on ferries for transport and tourism rich, there developed a sense of unease about how this virus would affect all our lives. How would this affect our island and school communities? Would it devastate us or would the strip of water that separates us from the mainland be our saviour? Suddenly schools were announced to be closing and educational leadership took on a whole new meaning. Suddenly outcomes, pupil progress and curriculum development took a back seat in favour of safety, health and mental well-being. Suddenly everything as we knew it changed. Within the initial stages of the school closure, there was the scramble to work out how, as a leadership team, we would provide care for the children of critical keyworkers without knowing who would be on this list. The list, when it arrived, encompassed so many and we had to manage the rush of parents trying get places for their children to remain in school. Once this was arranged, there was no time to breathe as we moved into looking at how we would also provide learning for our children who would remain at home. With little guidance to go on, schools locally have taken vastly different approaches to providing home learning opportunities. From the start of lock down, our approach has been to support the well-being and mental health of our school community. Our aim has been for our children and their families to spend time talking, playing and engaging in learning activities that support our skills-based curriculum. Through this approach, our children have accessed core English and mathematics learning, but additionally a wealth of foundation subjects such as design & technology, music, art, PSHE and geography. We have not put pressure on families to complete tasks, but asked them do what is right for their family. We are conscious that during this time, many families have been faced with untold challenges that greatly differ from home to home. Our teachers have provided tasks that are not only web-based but also practical too - allowing all children to access learning. We have communicated with families via our teacher-parent messaging app and website, in which we have shared resources, hosted lived story sessions and recorded teachers demonstrating activities. More importantly, we have celebrated learning by showing photographs of children cooking, gardening, sewing, exercising, fundraising and supporting vulnerable neighbours. Teachers have been working hard to respond to emails and messages from parents and children, provide childcare and make phone calls to check in with pupils; not just the vulnerable groups but all of our families. All whilst working from home or supporting children in our keyworker provision. All whilst knowing that the virus has changed the lives of people within our school community. We have been overwhelmed with positive messages from our parents in appreciation of the support and approach we have taken. It has meant so much to our

staff to receive these as they have worked incredibly hard both to support families but also provide childcare to the families of critical frontline workers. As a leadership team, knowing our school community has been the key. We have used this enforced time away from lesson plans and marking to focus in more depth and detail on our curriculum offer with subject leaders spending time that they wouldn’t often have to focus on planning and developments within their own subjects. Our curriculum plans and progression maps have been refreshed and updated and our intent statements have been reviewed. Whilst a clear plan has been essential, leadership has also become about managing expectations: The expectations of parents whose own lives have changed as they find themselves newly out-of-work, working from home whilst also supporting their children with their learning; the expectations of staff who have their own anxieties and worries and are also working from home, often juggling this with their own childcare; the expectations of the government and local authority who have given us their own directives. All this, whilst managing our own health and well-being and that of our own families. As we move into the next phase with lockdown easing, we begin to look to the future. ‘Normal’ schooling seems a long way off but we look now to how we can safely reopen our school to our children. Our focus as leaders still remains on ensuring that we have a clear vision for doing this as safely as possible whilst continuing to support the well-being and mental health of our children and staff. Providing our own clear plan to do so has been a lengthy process and will continue to be adapted as new, almost daily, guidance emerges. In true leadership style however, the plan is never finished and constantly evolves with further questions arising that need to be answered. In the end? We do not yet know the end. What we do know is that the strip of water we love to hate, along with lockdown and vastly reduced ferry services, has contributed to us having one of the lowest Covid-19 levels in the country. We do know that the virus has touched the lives of members of our staff and our families and we will do our best to support them through this. We also know that as a leadership team we come through this together and stronger, ready for the next chapter.

Tracy Morgan is Assistant Headteacher and English and Curriculum Lead at Hunnyhill Primary School, Newport, Isle of Wight https://www.hunnyhillschool.co.uk/