Kids still feeling the effects of lockdowns…

[sloanedanger]

I just got caught reading a really interesting thread on Twitter started by a teacher:

“Is anyone else thinking we are starting to see the impact of 2 years of disruption and time at home, due to COVID 19, in schools? Extreme behaviours? Some pupils very emotional and struggling to regulate? Low attendance compared to normal? Winter bugs hitting hard?”

A lot of the comments say Y3 is the worst, others saying Years 7 and 8.

My DS is in Year 2 and often struggles with emotions and self regulation at school. It’s made me think, perhaps there’s a reason why linked to the pandemic. Lockdown was hard, DP and I were home with very young DC, trying to work, poor mental health, emotions high. Very little patience.

I feel actually so so sad to admit this, but I had my third baby literally as we locked down.i have no family support and my husband family all abroad. The kids got sent from school and they were given all this home learning to do..... I just couldn't do it with them and they couldn't do it by themselves. So needless to say they missed out on so much education. They are both behind with where they should be academically now, and now that my baby is older I'm obviously doing homework with them every night but it is so apparent how far behind they got and I wonder will they catch up.

My DS in y6 really struggled with lockdowns but seems to have recovered.
DD in year 2 on the other hand is really struggling. She is almost certainly autistic and I can't help wondering if it would've been picked up sooner if she'd been in school more.

Very like my DS @Whoopsies . His reading and writing are good, apparently. But I feel like perhaps his emotional maturity has had a major impact, he has probably always been a bit young and “precious” in some ways (and not in others) thanks to being the eldest grandchild and doted on by grandparents, friends etc. So he probably would’ve been a bit behind anyway, even without covid, but it’s had such an impact. No key worker place for us but equally no furlough so we couldn’t dedicate hours to home school and activities.

My other child was 1 when the first lockdown hit. It’s hard to know how it’s affected him yet, he was very scared of a lot of things, but hard to know how much is personality.

I'm a Beaver Scout leader (ages 6-8) and we have definitely noticed a difference in the kids post-lockdowns. Disruptive behaviour, inability to take turns and work cooperatively, inability to follow instructions, to focus and to stop talking over each other and the adult volunteers. Not all of them and not all the time, but more than pre-Covid. It makes for, shall we say, an interesting time each week!

Apparently in my county, fixed term exclusion rates are highest, by far, for year1s. They missed out on the early socialisation, nursery etc and are quite feral! Speech and language difficulties are also high among this group too. Year 3s are also badly affected .

My DS goes to Beavers @moggerhanger ! Your description is basically him. I get the feeling he stands out in his class mind you, although obviously that’s me speculating/reading between the lines of what the teacher says.

Lots more school refusers and children that never returned to school I've heard.

Beyond that, bigger gaps in knowledge amongst peers, exacerbated haves and have-nots. Our primary school has introduced sets in Maths for Years 5&6 to try and focus more on the different levels of learning they have seen.

I'm interested Y8 is mentioned. While they had a hard time leaving primary during the pandemic, current Y9 had a far more difficult transition with starting secondary and often being confined to bubbles and classrooms.

I see the effect of missing out on education more on my now Y6 than my Y8, as she missed out on more basic learning. Y8 was in Y5 when the pandemic started so had a better command of reading, grammar, times tables etc than my then Y3.

Also massively feel for all the GCSE, A level & Uni kids who missed out on important parts of growing up socially.

My kids were 8.5 (Year 3), 6 (Year 1), 4 (in Nursery) and 12 months old in March 2020.

The eldest is now extremely anxious. It's hard to reason with why she needs to go to school when she was told over and over she didn't need to. We kept our kids at home during school closures despite both technically being keyworkers (I only worked about 12 hours a week, so it was manageable). Those kids who went in - by Feb 2021 this was 58% of DDs class - formed new, solid friendships which excluded DD. We are working through it.

The now-8 year old, who was in Year 1, seems ok, but missed out on a few nice "firsts" like school trips and things. They've still never been on a school trip or, due to illness in Reception year, been in a Christmas play!

The now-6 year old struggles to regulate emotions and is exhausted by the end of the week. They're like a Reception aged child in Year 2!! We didn't use childcare with the eldest 3 until they did school nursery, just for the academic year before starting in Reception. It's like they never learnt the skill of pacing themselves, and now the work is HARD (for a 6 year old, lol) and the day is LONG

And my poor darling baby, now 3, has had to live their formative years with a mum who has lost the love for mothering. I adored being a mum before. I was excellent at it. I was enthusiastic and happy. Now I feel angry all the time. Better than in the second lockdown when I used to cry myself to sleep hoping I'd just die, I suppose.

We do have a lovely life and lovely moments but the mum they had before has gone.

Neither of mine coped well as they also lost a grandparent during lockdown. As a result we made the decision to home educate last year, and according to my EHE contact - rates have been skyrocketing over the past 2 years - and continue to do so.

I think this is all totally to be expected, humans take a while to process things.

Year 8 dd here. Social anxiety ++, still wearing a mask in school (not due to covid, just to hide behind), huge gaps in education very obvious.

Meant to add, on the positive side - for our family, already privileged of course - our kids not only kept up with their peers during lockdown home learning, but widened the gap (they were all already in Greater Depths territory). Worrying when multiplied at a soceital level though - the haves and have nots.

I definitely think it affected people in different ways..my 7 year old remembers lockdowns very fondly when she got to stay at home especially spending so much time with her dad . We made a photo book of the time and what we did at home and she loves looking at it. She's a very chilled child though.

As a teacher to infants it was last year's cohort I found the most disadvantaged as they missed the biggest chunk of their 2 years of preschool. Speech and Language, fine motor skills and social skills were definitely lacking. This year's bunch are much better but that could be just personality.

We've just adjusted the programme a bit so that everyone can still do activities at a level that works. Lots of games that encourage concentration, listening, cooperation etc. We'll all get there, with time! I have no doubt your DS will too.

My Ds was in year 7 when the first lockdown hit. I think it has affected him socially and his friends. He is popular and part of a big group but none of them socialise outside of school and I'm convinced it's because lockdown hit just at the age they'd be supposed to be starting to socialise independently.

Same with my now 15 year old. All started 2020

The covid reception year is the current Y3s? I know because I happened to teach them in both Reception and now. By that I mean the ones who were home schooled from March 2020. Do you mean the ones who started in Sept 2020?

Oh yes. My pre-teen is massively anxious. My year 3 is wild and uncontrollable (or at least he seems that way - worrying his teacher seems to think he's fine so I dread to think what his classmates are like)

Yes - I also heard teachers are finding this year’s Y6 not as mature/ready for secondary transition as usual. Disruption in year 3&4 meant they haven’t had as much time as ‘juniors’ to learn (particularly socially) and go through different stages.

My DD in Year 4 has struggled a lot. She didn't like having to home school. Struggled so much with regulating her behaviour and it took us months to be able to get her to go out again. Even places she loved to go she struggled with. My DS in Year 9 loved lockdown! He thrived in it and loved staying home. I even think it helped him going up to secondary in 2020 as they were mostly kept in class groups and didn't need to mix with the older kids. It made the transition easier for him. So a very mixed bag for us here!

I adored being a mum before

Lockdown also made me dislike being a mum. I was fine before but the combination of dh WFH and the schools being closed made me so depressed. I genuinely found it unbearable never ever being alone. All I wanted was to be left alone. I still feel like that. Dh is still WFH and I absolutely dread school holidays as it is a horrible reminder of that time

The impact has been patchy. My kids seem to be OK and we got some positives out of it all but some of their friends have been badly affected emotionally and the school has said attendance has dropped significantly (it was never an issue before). We're noticing an impact on new graduates at work, they have no practical experience which means they need more training. But more worryingly they haven't grown up properly, and there was a recent incidence with offensive graffiti.

Yep, I said this from day 1 but everyone went on about how resilient children are etc. etc. etc. I still see the effects of lockdown in mine, particularly in my now 10 year old. Homework is a nightmare as it brings back homeschooling. Teachers on strike tomorrow and all schools closed in Scotland so yet another flashback.

I’m pleased there is a public enquiry in to this. We’ll be seeing the effects of multiple lockdowns on children for many years to come. They should never have missed out on so much education and socialisation.

Yes I hope people do the form. I would like them to realise the damage