Caroline Buchanan – Deputy Head Teacher at Longroyde Primary School in Rastrick

“When the announcement came to close on the 18th March, we had 48 hours to organise how to plan it all and get the information out to parents. The information from the government didn't come out until midnight of that night and it was really difficult to get all of the guidance together so we could plan. We had potentially 80 children coming from early years, key stages 1 and 2 so planning how we were going to do that was really tricky. We’re on two sites as well so it didn’t help as we had to shift staff from one to the other. We've never had to work together as a whole school like this before but we came together as a leadership team, planned and organised it all and its gone really well!
We’re working in three teams so a team is on for a week or half a week depending on how many children are in. I’ve been doing one week on, two weeks off and working from home. We're all constantly phoning parents and children to check on them, planning work, contacting colleagues to making sure they are all alright. We’re making sure there’s information on line for the children and packs for children who need to come in as well as doing daily welfare checks for those children who are identified as being vulnerable. In the beginning, staff were making free school meals for the children - making up packs of sandwiches for them to come and collect so it’s been pretty full on. I’ve learnt new skills: cooking and serving lunches, cleaning and today I’ve been paint spraying yellow lines and one-way systems for when we do go back – every day has been an adventure!
The thing which really concerns me though is that you have children who, on the surface appear to be absolutely fine, but actually they internalise everything and are completely out of their comfort zone. That is really difficult and I think we shall have issues down the line when this is all over - you may see some differences in the mental health of a lot of children.
We’ve got 20+ staff with teachers, teaching assistants,cooks and maintenance staff and the willingness of people to just chip in and do has been incredible - you see them with rubber gloves on cleaning tables and anything which stands still gets cleaned! Staff have been working out of their comfort zones, in different places, with different children and different colleagues and have just been amazing trying to keep a sense of normality for the children. Parents have been really supportive and we are really missing the children who we haven't seen since lockdown began. I am really proud though because the whole school community has come together and have been fabulous."

26.5.20