Following on from the deputy leader cabinet member for children, young people and schools on council activity in respect of children returning to school and the hearing from young people and headteachers on their experience of children returning to school and impact of covid-19 on education – the commission will hear further evidence from:
Children/young people from Anima Youth - a community interest company, initially established to support girls and young women but widened to support young men as well in relation to mental health and career guidance.
Matt Jones, chair of SASH (Southwark Association of Secondary Headteachers) has also provided a brief written submission updating the chair on the current needs of secondary schools).
Matt has reported that Southwark secondary schools are generally well resourced in terms of laptops, but that there are up to 4 schools that would benefit from an additional 30-40 laptops each (this has been communicated to the relevant cabinet member). In relation to mental health, the headteachers had generally found that students who were known to social services, CAMHS or ‘presenting’ with issues before Covid-19 are presenting in a more acute way since school closures. He has advised that as a community they will need additional therapists and family support professionals to work with the children and the families affected.
Minutes:
The commission heard from Eloise, founder and CEO of Anima Youth and young people involved with the organisation (Kendra, Ruth, Vanessa and Teresa). The young people who attended different schools both in and outside Southwark, spoke about their experience of education through the pandemic.
The young people answered a series of questions put to them by the commission members. The responses highlighted a mixed experience for those taking part in the evidence session. The following issues came through in the responses.
How are you finding education through the pandemic, both learning from home and attending school?
· How the school responds to the pandemic has an impact on the students and how well the students respond to the change – example, schools emailing students to check how the students were doing.
· School not really checking on wellbeing, mostly focused on education and arrangements for next year.
· Too many expectations on students, and teachers are not teaching properly. Schools are not taking into consideration that some children are living their entire life from one room.
· Feels like they are teaching themselves and then have homework on top of that, along with other small issues such as poor wifi and so the work is building up.
· School undertaken Survey Monkey to see how students are finding lockdown and how they are finding the workload.
· Students finding it tough
Have you had much opportunity to express your concerns or how you are finding things, either through the teacher or head of year?
· There has been opportunity to express how students are finding things, however sometimes this has been through email, which are sometimes overlooked by students – a phone call would possibly be better.
· Communication has been bad and the quality of lessons have gone down significantly. School has not been clear on whether they are going to do exams or what is expected of students. Teachers don’t appear to be bothered, so why should students be.
Do you have any specific ideas about what the school and government could do to give better support for mental health for young people over the coming months?
· Organising virtual sessions, with student, teacher and counsellor, to provide safe space for students to express how they are feeling.
· Counselling service exists in school, but not open to using it. Could be barrier between her and the counsellor or that the counsellor will not be able to understand her so more likely to not bother signing up.
· A lot of ambiguity over exams has caused a lot of anxiety, especially with teachers setting more assignments and setting mini tests, on top of this students don’t know what their grades are going to be based on. This creates anxiety, and the pressure of feeling that you have to do well in every single thing, otherwise you are going to get bad grades. There needs to be more guidance and structure.
· School has encouraged students to talk about mental health, go on walks, have virtual classroom challenges with prizes. This has helped the students to interact.
How would you feel about repeating the year if things are back to normal by September?
· This would increase the anxiety of being left behind in life. Expectation is that you go to university at 18 – She will be class of 2022. Already missed the ecstatic feeling of finishing GCSEs, even results day was that good as they had to stand in a line. Already feels like she has missed so much.
· Already missed so much content, even though learning online, doesn’t believe she will retain what she has learnt as she learns better at school. Having to go back to school and do everything again is a situation she personally does not want to be in. Would like a fresh start for next year and go to university at 18.
Do you feel like your school is doing very much at the moment to prepare you for those transition moments and do you have a sense that you are able to properly plan?
· School sends through information everyday about opportunities around engineering, maths, sciences and other subjects – feel school is doing quite well with opportunities. School still has assemblies and has guest talkers giving advice on universities and careers. Also have schools career advisor who is very interactive with students through email and teams meetings.
· Schools career advisor is not sending out emails notifying people on different options. Feels like the next step has been neglected within her school. Teachers are not talking about exams in general, employment or university.
Experience of school return between September and November, is there anything you think could be done better in terms of support and provision to students?
· Missed out on 6th form experience – there was no extracurricular activities. Lesson time was also cut down as well, along with restrictions.
· Had double and triple period lessons, breaks were shorter and was not able to move around the school due to bubbles. Students eventually became fed up with bubbles and started mixing in other bubbles. Only had mobile canteen, with limited selection of food.
· School was strict with bubbles, students were able to go outside of school for lunch and bring food inside school. Lessons were mainly double periods.
What are you most anxious about in terms of going back to school and what do you thin schools should do consistently across London and the country to make people feel better?
· Anxious over whether going to get desired grades.
· Anxious about whether 6th form students will continue learning or have to go straight into having to make applications about personal statements, when haven’t fully had 6th form experience. Would be helpful if there was a structured plan, setting out level of focus on academics and on the next steps and plan this out with students so that the can mentally prepare themselves.
· Schools should be open to the fact that the content being learned during lockdown isn’t going to be learnt or retained as well. It would be helpful to rehearse and go over content again and for schools to provide revision resources such as flashcards.
Would mental health first aid training be of value for students?
· Yes, it’s more comfortable to talk to a friend than going to a teacher.
· Would be useful to know where to direct a friend if they need help or don’t want to talk to someone that knows them.
The Chair highlighted the written communication from Matt Jones, Southwark Association of Secondary Headteachers, which had been circulated with the agenda.
Following the conclusion of item 6, the commission discussed the issues raised through the evidence session and agreed to make some urgent enquiry with the cabinet member for children, young people and schools as detailed in the decision below.
RESOLVED:
We ask the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools to:
1. Urgently review counselling support currently available in schools and explore what additional help the council can provide, possibly in liaison with South London and Maudsley (SLAM)
2. Urgently confirm whether there are any Southwark children still without access to laptops and/or internet. If so to provide immediate assistance.
3. Confirm what action the council is taking to encourage families to come forward where they do not have devices and feel reluctance to accept support.