How do you lead a community that never gathers in person" How do you reintegrate and resocialise pupils after months of distance and missing out on friendships at school" How do you reconnect pupils who are forcibly physically separated in class and have to follow a one-way system designed to stop them ?bumping into? one another" We talk to David King, deputy head at Croydon High School GDST to find out.
At a recent Iftar celebration ? our first in-real-life, out-of-school-hours event since February 2020 ? colleagues reminisced about the moment the Headmistress addressed the school that March to announce the life-altering measures we would be forced to take in the face of the pandemic. While we predicted the academic challenges ahead, we were much less certain of the social upheaval and challenges to pupils? mental wellbeing – with them missing out on friendships at school – that would threaten our community spirit. Two trends emerged. Numbers of pupils in need of emotional support rose over three-fold compared to the previous year. Family finances and family relationships were stretched and together with the pain of bereavement for some, this was keenly felt by our adolescents. And friendships suffered. Not so much the ?best friends? ? HouseParty and FaceTime saved these ? but the incidental connections that a busy school day offers. The pupil you sing with in choir, the chemistry lab partner, the fifth member of the lunch gang who you don?t sha...