School closures damaged children's social skills, says headteacher

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this week that schools would not be reopening until March 8 at the earliest due to measures imposed to tackle the country’s biggest wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement that children would have to be taught remotely for longer than hoped, concerns have been raised over a generation of youngsters missing out on an adequate education.

But the headteacher of Hartford Manor Primary School, Simon Kidwell, says the impact on children goes further than education.

Mr Kidwell said some of the younger children were not talking to each other when they came back to school after the first closures last year.

“It just seemed strange to see children playing on their own and not interacting,” he said.

Children fell behind with their reading and some pupils’ behaviour was ‘quite challenging’.

Simon Kidwell, headteacher at Hartford Manor Primary School. Image: Google Maps

Simon Kidwell, headteacher of Hartford Manor Primary School

Mr Kidwell added: “They weren’t used to interacting and playing, so we had to do a lot of work supporting the children at play times and getting them back to socialising and behaving as well as we know they can.

“They got there but I was absolutely gutted when we went into lockdown for the second time.”

Amanda Spielman, head of England’s schools watchdog, said many children’s motivation is ‘really flagging’ and stressed it is not only poorer pupils who are facing ‘educational problems’.

Ms Spielman said: “A big slice of children who are struggling, it’s nothing to do with them having a marker of disadvantage.

“I’d really like to help people recognise that the problems coming out of lockdown for children are much, much broader than just for certain socioeconomic groups and special educational needs.”

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Social mobility experts and heads have warned that disadvantaged children are likely to fall further behind amid Covid-19 – and concerns about their access to laptops and food have become more prevalent.

Ms Spielman said it is not only pupils eligible for free school meals, or children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), who are struggling due to lengthy periods of remote education.

The chief inspector told PA: “There is a really important point here that educational problems are not just about disadvantaged children.

“The message about motivation is coming right across the spectrum of advantage and disadvantage, as well as across the age groups.

“Children who, for whatever reason, haven’t got high motivation are everywhere at all ability levels and some very high-achieving children are struggling with motivation. Some children from very affluent families are struggling with motivation.

“We know that the isolation for many children is really problematic.”