Health, wellbeing & covid-19 – supporting young people during their transition back to school
Channel: SERA - Scottish Educational Research Association
Date: 28/06/2020

Currently, there is much discussion among teachers, local governments, charities, academics and other key stakeholders about how young peoples’ health and wellbeing might be supported during the convid-19 ‘lockdown’. However, as we move closer to the point at which pupils and teachers might be able to return to school, this focus will shift to consider how schools prepare for this transition. More specifically, questions will be addressed about how schools can support young people socially, emotionally and mentally as they return to school, and in the future. This period of transition will present teachers with an unprecedented and highly challenging task. Not only will the physical characteristics of the school potentially look and feel different, but the pupils and the teachers themselves may be very different, some of whom will have been deeply affected by their experiences in isolation.

Through this #seraconnects seminar we hear the perspectives of three experienced teachers, one Headteacher and two Depute Headteachers, as they consider what their schools might be like as their staff and pupils return. Tina Stone is the 2-18 Headteacher of a group of two primary schools and one secondary school at Dornoch Firth Campus in the Highlands. Jennifer Menzies is a Depute Headteacher at the Royal High School in Edinburgh and Mhairi Hume is a Depute Headteacher at Newbattle High School in Midlothian.  The three teachers discuss their experiences, ideas and actions in relation to supporting their pupils’ health and wellbeing as they return to school. 

We hope that this discussion will provide a supportive platform for teachers, researchers and other stakeholders to share practice, seek advice, and critically consider the implications of the discussions for their own context.