Five years ago in March 2020, schools fell silent as Covid-19 swept across the world. At first, there was a tinge of excitement among some students and staff; it was as if, perhaps, we had been told that the whole country was going to be snowed in for six weeks.
Had the restrictions thawed within a couple of months, the impact on at least some children’s education might even have been positive. New experiences stretch the mind, after all. But it didn’t work out like that. While pubs, restaurants and hairdressers re-opened on 4 July, schools stayed on remote teaching until September.
This generation of children was let down badly in the pandemic
Meanwhile, daily government press conferences, laced ‘R numbers’, infection rates, hospital admissions and excess deaths, instilled a sense of fear that also impacted on children. The world is not a safe place – indeed, it has never been a safe place – but we were told that risk must be avoided at all cost.
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