If you're a teacher, how do the kids seem at the moment?

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

In light of all the reports of children's mental health and development suffering during lockdown, I've been wondering about this a lot. Have you noticed a big change in the kids you teach? Was it as bad as you feared?

My DS9 seems to have come through it all more or less OK, though according to him he's currently getting told off a lot 'for no reason' so reading between the lines, he's being a bit of a PITA. Hopefully it'll settle down.

I know this sounds like a very 'journalist' post... all I can say is I promise I'm not! Been around for years and would make a crap journalist.

I'm in youthwork. Its a real mix.

The numbers experiencing mental health problems are through the roof. We are seeing big increases in anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm etc.

Lots of under the surface issues that will take a while, months, years to deal with - problems with confidence, self-esteem, stunted development in social skills, difficulty working in teams, etc.

Physical fitness is pretty bad too. They get out of breath doing the lightest of activities.

And then there are also plenty who seem to be doing fine and are seeming to be bouncing back well.

Its going to impact us for years.

Secondary school safeguarding lead here. The last few weeks have been very challenging. The majority of kids seem happy to be back in school. But they're noticeably tired, tetchy and less resilient to things like friendship issues than before. Lots of kids struggling to get back into a normal sleep pattern because they've gotten used to staying up ridiculously late every night during lockdown. Year 11 are anxious about assessments, Sixth Form very stressed about the future and lots of them struggling with motivation. So many requests for school counseling, multiple parents report that GP's have told them there's no point in referring their depressed/anxious/self-harming child to CAMHS because the wait is so long so "call the school and see what they can do"...the reality is we can't do very much because our school counselor also has a massive waiting list. We've noticed a significant rise in Eating Disorders, which seems to be the case nationally from what I've read. Children's services are taking longer to respond to referrals and it's becoming even harder to get hold of kids allocated social workers on the phone so vulnerable kids and parents are waiting longer for support.
Parents are anxious too, lots of Teachers have mentioned getting emails from parents at all hours of the day and night.
Behaviour hasn't been too bad on the whole but I think the first couple of weeks was a bit of a 'honeymoon' period, there have definitely been more incidents over the last week or so.

@TheOneWithTheBigNose

My year 2 who has always loved school and never had any issues either academically or socially is struggling. We’re working with the teacher to help her. She says she just feels worried all the time and says she doesn’t want to get used to being at school because they’ll probably close again. Her teacher says the class have generally been more prone to tears and fractious.

My son has said that a few times too - 'don't want to get used to school as it will only close again' sort of thing. Quite sad really.

The 16 to 18 year olds that I teach. Many on the verge of mental meltdown. All stressed out of their minds, highly anxious.

Asked my students if they were happy to return (I teach 11-16yo) - all of them groaned and replied with a unanimous "NO, I LIKED IT BETTER AT HOME" 🙄 I thought they'd be quite happy to get back to seeing their mates!!

@Crystal90567

Secondary teacher here. They seem very depressed and quiet. Eerily so. It's like waking the dead But I can tell that as a professional experienced staff were all trying to cheer them up. They need to be conscious in order to learn and engage. I'm doing more fun subject content, and literally singing and dancing more. Playing fun songs from you tube. I did starjumps today in a lesson on gcse higher probability trees. (We were choosing sports to compete in a fictional triathlon to make tree. My choices were starjumps, rally driving and then shot put) This was year 11 who are v v affected by covid and no gcses. It made them smile and learn the content and crucially engage rather than this awful apathetic glazed over depression. I will embarrass myself so they can laugh as much as needed. Within my control really though. Next door were playing corners one lesson and bloody screaming with it.(!!) This isn't very usual at secondary :) But you could tell it was member of staff controlled as they were intermittently screaming / shrieking with joy and intermittently silent. Were on it, is all I would say.

What a fabulous, understanding teacher you are 😍

Secondary here, vast majority are fab. Seem really pleased to be back, as am I. Y13 very stressed over the exam cancellations, but they would be pretty stressed at this time of year normally, over their exams instead.
We have been a bit more chilled about uniform and homework to ease them back in but manners and behaviour pretty much as before ( in that same very few kids kicking off, rest getting on with work)

Yes to being like September again! Feels like I’m having to train them in the basics like hands up, asking to go to the toilet (had a couple just disappear off 🤦🏽‍♀️) and not whining and stropping like they might at home 😄.

Primary KS1, majority are cheerful and happy to be back. A couple of tearful ones (they do tend to be the ones who did not join in with the online learning during lockdown. Quite a few want to talk a lot (more than usual) to the adults in the classroom iyswim. Not about worries or anything, just for general reassurance we think.

Secondary teacher.

Year 7....some are full of it. Needed putting in their place by older kids but that never happened. Some are very anxious. Behaviour is not great.

8, 9 10 so far not too bad. Lots just happy to be on school.

Yr11: either stressed right out of mentally have exited the building.

12 are fine. 13 are on verge of breakdown.

Staff are on their knees.

Oh God. It's different to last time. Most of them, as always, are amazing, but there's a kind of wholesale weirdness going on. Mainly, it looks like this:

Yr 7 and 8 are loopy, kicking off, walking out of lessons, refusing to work.
Yr 9 and 10 are quiet, sad and demotivated.
Yr 11 are doing their best but are stressed up to the eyeballs.

Safeguarding has gone mad because all the things that happened at home over lockdown have come to light, and some of them are awful.

We're a lovely school, I promise! It's hard at the moment.

@GuyFawkesDay that's exactly it! Yr 7 have never been taken down a peg or two by the older kids and boy do they need it!

Agree about previous comment. We have tried to just focus on getting them back in, getting them settled and enjoying school.

The progress will come if they are happy.

We've tried to be extra cheery with them. I come home a zombie though!

Behaviour wise - they're struggling socially with not being able to take turns, compromise and resolve problems independently as they haven't had to so lots of silly falling out and squabbles
This!

I work in early years and a lot are struggling to take turns/share and they have lost out in resilience. We've gone back to concentrating mainly on the personal,social and emotional development and communication and language.

Parent of a yr 11 dd. A full timetable of tests for the next few weeks is causing anxiety, they are looking forward to having a prom but although the fricking amazing head of year wants to put in a date to hold it on site in the year bubble the new head teacher is refusing to allow her to yet. He is also refusing to confirm when they are leaving as he needs to discuss these with other schools to see what they are doing. Its not a trust, the buck stops with him. Make a decision for crying out loud so the kids can finally get a bit of certainty.
The teachers are being fantastic though.

On the whole quite unsettled. Emotional, fractious and frantic as a class. Many of them seem fine but have had terrible times during lockdown which they are slowly opening up about.
Lots of them seem okay and have remembered the basics such as putting hands up, how to set their work out, general Covid rules from September.
But the ones who aren’t are struggling. I will say though that we got them to fill out a questionnaire at the end of the first week about their thoughts and feelings and 100% of them said they’d prefer to be in school than learning at home, although a few of them also wrote that they wanted to wear their pyjamas to school which made us laugh
School is the right place for children (I know that’s not what the OP was asking and I know there are lots of people who HE and that’s great for them, every child is different).
They’ll get there with a lot of patience. From them and us!

Full disclosure, my school is in a middle class area and I only had one child not engage with home learning at all.

Handwriting has improved over lockdown because they had handwriting practice set more frequently than in school. Several of my children have forgotten how to consistently use the correct tense/person, and the concept of a full stop has become completely alien to them. Independence in maths took a hit, but I feel like that has levelled out.

On the face of it, they’re doing amazingly. I could not have told you they’d been off for three months on the first day back. They picked up right where they left off - no need to reestablish expectations, although I did anyway.

The ones who have been in the whole time are getting cranky because they’re tired and grumpy that there are so many more children, and I’ve heard from some parents that their kids are knackered at home. But when I look around and see them all sat with their arms folded ready for the lesson it just melts my heart. I am so proud of them. I do think they try really, really hard at school and that probably comes apart a bit at home.

Behaviour is awful at the schools I visit.

@mayihavesomecakeplease

I'm a school based therapist. I've noticed my vulnerable kids who were school based have found lockdown brilliant, because they got more individual attention at school. They re a bit put off that the rest of the kids are back!

The kids who were at home are a little more fragile. Some safeguarding issues coming out from while they were at home, some a bit anxious about leaving the bubble of "safety" from covid. Over all though the schools seem very upbeat and generally the kids seem thrilled to be back at school!

I find this very true. My ASD DS hates the noise now everyone is back

@IHeartKingThistle that’s so sad.

for all the teachers and kids.

Y1 teacher. Mine are very happy to be back in but are tired, and lots are struggling to socialise well, be attentive and stay focussed, and are finding the classroom noisy and too busy. They definitely have 'gaps', especially writing (loss of stamina and ability/confidence to have a go independently). I've had at least 6 parents saying they are going to talk to their GP about possible Autism diagnoses or ADHD because the children are having melt-downs at home, and are behaving 'badly'. I don't see this is school, but I think the majority are simply anxious and overwhelmed and tired. They have had such a hard time, missing so
much of Foundation, then a chunk of Y1. I think it's had a big effect - not on all the children, obviously. Some have thrived at home, but many haven't.

I’ve had kids that have got themselves sent out of class on purpose as it is too loud

I’m high school, they younger ones all seem to have forgotten how to be in a classroom. It’s like herding cats at times. I don’t shout at kids at all really but I had to twice today as I was doing a practical lesson and I was genuinely worried they were going to be injured. They seem to just get out of their seats and walk around these days and talk over each other constantly. There seems to be a lot of bickering and falling out too.

It's different to last time

It really is IHeartKingThistle and I’m trying to figure out why. In September they’d had a summer of fewer restrictions, seeing friends, trips away. This time they’ve gone from full lockdown with quite high expectations of remote learning into full school. It has been a real shock to the system.
For teachers, in September we picked up new classes so we didn’t know them before. This time we can see the difference.

At secondary there seems to be a lot more rubbing up against rules and expectations because they’ve been used to doing their own thing during live lessons. Far more arguing the toss.

Exam year groups are just totally done in. Feel so sorry for them with how the govt have messed them around.

My little DD (8yo Y4) has suffered with separation anxiety (not just down to lockdown). School were great and provided a transition day for her and she is allowed a little bag with a squishy, picture of Elsa (to make her feel strong), fidget toy and bag of lavender on her desk if needed. The first week back they just did wellbeing activities and lots of music, art and gardening. Then the academic work has gradually been introduced. She has been coming out of school very chatty and excited about all their activities and playing with her friends. She's even been raving about her school dinners! 😁