It has been very strange, and at times rather unsettling to be a primary school teacher over the last year. With very little warning we shut the school down, prepared weekly remote learning tasks and set up a rota to support and teach key worker children who were in school. On our return in September the children in my class showed amazing courage and resilience and through their and my determination and hard work we saw them almost catch up with where they should have been academically in a very short space of time (pats on the back all round!!). 

The progress they had made was sadly stalled again after Christmas. We had prepared classrooms and schemes of work, even though we had concerns for our own safety and then had to redo all our plans and switch to remote learning with 12 hours’ notice. Teachers are used to juggling and we are now teaching 'live lessons' through Google Classroom, planning and publishing our online learning tasks and supporting the mental well being of the children and their families. The thing I most miss is being in a classroom with my class and enjoying making their lessons engaging, thought provoking and challenging. It's been difficult to do this and monitor progress online but I like that the children are learning to make the best of it. I see their smiling faces during the lessons and (despite the odd tear) the work they share shows me I'm not doing too bad a job. The parents have been wonderful in supporting their children's learning despite having to balance their own work commitments and family life. We all look forward with great hope, alongside some sadness and reflection to whatever the new 'normal' will be but we will approach this with love, kindness and a greater appreciation of everyone around us!!