One of my favourite parts of the day is story time. My class and I always look forward to it. We often talk about the books and characters and settings and we enjoy spending this time together. I was reminded of this when I was posting for our Junior School Instagram page. A memory popped up of me reading to my class. It made me sad.
Teaching Key Stage One children is a joy; they are keen to learn and enthusiastic. I teach them to write, read, to love books, to add, subtract, divide and multiply, about history, geography, science….we also talk about feelings and love drama and music. I am fortunate to have a small class and I know them all really well. We want each child to be the very best they can be.
So, lockdown and online schooling certainly had its challenges! Technology is wonderful, as long as it works. My littlies embraced online learning and took to it like ducks to water. They listened and were engaged, they were funny and wanted to show and tell me the most random things. We were able to keep in touch every school day. But it’s not the same.
After one maths lesson one of my youngest pupils said goodbye and hugged her iPad. This really got to me. We are used to helping them with their work, encouraging them, moving around the class and helping the children who need it. We chat, we laugh, we mop up tears, we have lunch wth them, we play games. I can’t do all of this now, and it can be a huge frustration. I long to return to one of my favourite parts of the day
Thankfully, the children, it has to be said are fine, more than fine. This is due, in no small part, to their parents who are supporting them in lessons, working with them and making sure that they are keeping up with their schoolwork. It can sometimes be hugely stressful teaching online with bad connections, phone calls and that mute button! The most important thing in all of this is the children, and they are doing just fine.
Mrs Amanda Freer, Junior School Headteacher