We know that after so much disruption over the last year and so much loss, for many people life will have changed significantly.
Many more are likely to continue to be cautious about the recent relaxation of some elements of the Covid lockdown measures. While we cannot be complacent about the continuing risk, including from new variants, this relaxation has started to give us early hope of a return to some semblance of normality. For many children that I speak to at the gate on their way into school, sports afternoons can be the highlight of their day that they are most looking forward to, however inspiring their lessons may be. It has therefore been a joy to see sporting fixtures returning to the school programme this term, even if the weather has not been kind to cricketers – our very first match managing sixteen overs before the heavens opened and I was reminded of my father-in-law who always used to refer to cricket as “the English rain dance”. Nonetheless we have already had matches against other local schools in tennis and hockey and netball too, providing a welcome variation from the last year’s routine of remote learning and bubbles. We are now also able to start running school trips again, which are such an important part of a holistic education. Indeed, trips often help young people to grow in confidence and provide some of the more lasting memories that alumni recall from their school days. While major overseas trips are unlikely to happen in the short term, owing to uncertainty about ongoing quarantine restrictions and the planning lead time, in the near future we already anticipate residential trips closer to home such as Duke of Edinburgh award training, a Cadet Force exercise and a Year 6 outdoors camp. Some elements of live performance are also starting to open up, albeit with restrictions such as audience sizes still in place. It was a real privilege to watch some A level and GCSE devised drama pieces performed live on stage recently and I was delighted by how our young people continue to be so creative, in spite of the disruption they will have had to their opportunities to rehearse. While, sadly, we have so far been unable to invite parents to be present at these performances, over the last year we have learnt to be creative about streaming events and have had far wider reach than we might ever have imagined with members of the RGS community even joining us from other continents. I have previously written about the resilience and independent learning skills that pupils will have developed over recent months. However, when Covid restrictions are long gone, there will be many positive lessons that we will take forwards that represent a radical improvement on what was done pre-Covid. For example, while it will be important for parents to be welcomed onto the school site regularly for community events, academic parents’ evenings are likely to remain online owing to the convenience making it easier for more hard-working parents to attend scheduled appointments, not to mention the privacy of them being able to speak with teachers without those waiting next in line listening in to the conversation. Some textbook publishers had already planned to discontinue print in favour of online versions and a number of schools are now exploring the option of delivering entire courses remotely. For most children, the benefits of human interaction with contemporaries in person mean that daily trips to the school gate will continue to be important but pupils will be much more likely to carry a device into school than a heavy bag of books. Even those teachers who previously might have been reluctant users of IT are now more than capable of streaming lessons or uploading and marking assignments online. Online assessments will also enable learners to move at their own pace and provide much more insight on their progress and tailored support. Even snow days may be a thing of the past, as many schools should be able to move seamlessly online for remote lessons. Who would ever have imagined little more than a year ago that something so awful as a Covid pandemic would provide such a catalyst for positive change?