Children return to school tomorrow; some in person and some via remote means. The Christmas and New Year break is now over and so much has been and still needs to be done.

The work that goes into organising what is needed for a return to school, and by return to school I mean those both in person and remotely, is far more than many realise. Just organising which staff are able to come in for critical workers’ children is a task in itself. Whether it be staff that are critically vulnerable, have children or simply anxious is one factor. Add to that the planning, groupings and environments for learning. These two tasks are just a snippet!

The children eligible to attend now is greater. Only one key worker parent and the list of occupations has extended. Regardless of the reasons and people’s views on this matter, it is hard for everybody. Whilst we may take bookings without limits, there needs to be and will be checks of whether the children in, should be. Daily changes of numbers will happen and fluidity of the day managed. So many areas to consider and manage.

So the last day (officially) of the break wasn’t one. It actually ended days ago. Work was done throughout the break but since Monday it has been very much none stop. Today it was in school for a couple of remote meetings, supporting others and going over plans. Great in many ways that there were no adaptations from what we planned. I think that shows how much it has been a joint plan throughout so the intention is the same and we do it.

The blessing of this lockdown is the work on a path was delayed so with less children back, it won’t be an issue. If we had all children back tomorrow, who knows what the plan would be?

So, we are back to it. We will do what we can to support who we can and do our best with the learning; it will be great and what we get wrong we will learn from and adapt.

Stay safe all. It’s a difficult path but every step can be a forward one.