Over the last few days I’ve been seeing more news reports and comments about the plan to reopen schools for some key year-groups in the UK next month. I can’t begin to untangle the different political and emotional arguments for and against and I won’t even try.

It’s going to be unimaginably hard for the people who have to set the rules and create the new physical and educational framework to make social distancing work, who have to balance the physical & mental risks vs benefits of everything from the pencils to the playground. And then for the teachers and assistants who have to make this new ‘normal’ feel less strange and scary for the children. Children who know things aren’t the same, who are being told that they need to wash their hands to save lives (no pressure there!), who can’t visit relatives or friends and who, if they’ve been lucky enough to see someone they know on their daily walk, have likely been told to stay away. Nothing is normal, everything is scary and no matter how gently adults have tried to reshape life into a ‘new normal’, children internalise everything and will blame themselves. Going back to school is a very big deal for them and there is a massive amount of pressure on everyone involved.

I feel lucky that my children aren’t in key year-groups and that, if they were, I’m in a position to choose whether to send them back or continue teaching them at home. I’m relieved that I don’t have to make that decision because I don’t know what I’d choose. The older ones would find a way to make it work but with my youngest being so ‘huggy’ (even more so since Daddy’s can’t come home yet) I think she’d find physical distancing the hardest. I feel for all the parents who have to make that decision but for whom it isn’t really a choice. Those who’ve been struggling to balance home-working with home-schooling, those who’ve been unable to work because of a lack of childcare, the only-child families whose children don’t have a sibling to bounce off the walls with and especially those families who need their children to be in school because it’s their ‘safe place’. For them it’s about necessity.

I worry that some children will struggle with the new school set-up and that the new school structure could open up a host of problems with bullying amongst the older children - for those who were already on the receiving end there is a risk that they could feel more excluded by the new groupings and rules - although I hope the smaller groups will make it easier to spot and deal with quickly. I think that for many children, though, going back to school in this environment will be an exciting adventure, a chance to see and bond with their friends and will be a wonderful opportunity to have all the benefits of much smaller class sizes.

I have many friends who are teachers and I know that they’re as concerned about how this will play out as the parents and the politicians. Of course they’re concerned about their own safety but their biggest worry is for the children. I wish there was some way to make their job easier. It’s not much but maybe telling them that we understand and appreciate all that they have done and are doing for our children will help.

If you agree, please feel free to share this with your teacher friends to let them know you understand and support them.