Northern Ireland

Gerry Campbell: Schools and Covid-19 - where to next?

It has not been business as usual since March 2020. School leaders and their staff have demonstrated leadership and resilience
It has not been business as usual since March 2020. School leaders and their staff have demonstrated leadership and resilience It has not been business as usual since March 2020. School leaders and their staff have demonstrated leadership and resilience

THE Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) has warned that all must be done to support the re-opening of schools in early November after the extended mid-term break announced by the minister of education. CCMS is extremely concerned about both the impact on young people and the longer-term effects that this crisis will have on our current cohort of pupils.

The impact on the economy, communities and wider society is likely to have repercussions for years to come and education, in particular, faces significant obstacles and difficulties. The road ahead will continue to present many challenges and it is clear that we must all pull together to support our leaders and staff in schools so that they can do their utmost to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and continue to provide the best possible start in life for all of our children and young people.

Catholic maintained schools have been very successful in providing a balanced and holistic education to thousands of young people, through a continuum of varied learning experiences. These seek not only to develop the moral, emotional, physical, academic and spiritual elements of the child, but importantly, to prepare and enable children to be able to make a significant contribution to society and the modern world.

This has continued throughout the pandemic, albeit in very different circumstances and now, more than ever, we all need to play our part in adhering to public health guidance and regulations to help to create a safe environment that will enable and facilitate schools to remain open on a continuing basis. The CCMS council endorsed this position at its most recent meeting and was unequivocal in stating that schools must be supported in re-opening and in remaining open for pupil learning thereafter.

It has not been business as usual since March 2020. School leaders and their staff have demonstrated leadership and resilience. They have kept schools open for vulnerable children and the children of key workers and they have ensured continuity of learning through flexible and innovative remote learning solutions.

Efforts to prepare for the restart of education have been phenomenal. School leaders and their staff have worked tirelessly and on a continuous basis to ensure that their school environments were safe and ready to accommodate and educate pupils. They have shown considerable leadership, innovation and resilience.

Since restart they have also continued to manage the administrative and logistical challenges posed by Covid-19 on top of the usual challenges of running their schools.

An underpinning conviction of Catholic education is that the needs of the most disadvantaged are prioritised. Given the differing circumstances of our pupils, we must be acutely conscious of supporting all, including the vulnerable and those with special educational needs to ensure that every pupil can achieve their potential regardless of their social or economic circumstances.

Schools are at the heart of society. As well as places of learning, they are centres of support, care, friendship, personal development and growth. Keeping our schools open for learning must be a priority for government and wider society. We must support our young people's emotional and mental health and wellbeing. There must be a continuing focus on creating and enhancing a learning environment where the social and emotional needs of entire school communities are met.

As chief executive of CCMS, I have listened to school leaders articulate the complexity of challenges that they have faced, and continue to face. I have witnessed, in schools, the excellent job they are doing to build and maintain a safe learning environment alongside delivering an excellent curriculum in the most challenging of circumstances.

We each have a role to play in managing this pandemic so that school leaders and their staff can be allowed to focus on the needs and aspirations of their pupils, despite the challenge of Covid-19. As we progress into the coming months, the challenges for our schools will become more complex. Our schools need a clear pathway that will support them minimise the longer-term impacts on the educational progression and wellbeing of our young people as we all work through the remainder of this pandemic.

This is a year in which we have redefined ‘business as normal’ many times already. We must now focus all of our thinking and collectively, as we seek to support the continuity of education within this ‘new normal’, we must challenge ourselves on what our priorities really should be for the remainder of this year. It is now time for all partners to consider how we might introduce some flexibilities that will assist leaders and teachers as they endeavour to meet the overriding priority of keeping schools open for learning.

:: Gerry Campbell is CCMS Chief Executive