Transitions
Children returning to school are going to experience a range of emotions. This may include a mixture of excitement, happiness and relief but may also include anxiety, fear and anger. It will be important to ensure there are opportunities for social and emotional learning. Actively involving young people in the planning for their return to school will help to reduce their worries and the emotional impact of the process. Being proactively involved will reignite a sense of belonging and reduce their anxiety.
If possible, children should have an opportunity to get involved whilst still at home. This may include considering what would make them feel safe in school or writing down their hopes and concerns. We have a separate transitions page for parents and carers with tips to support the transition back to school and activity ideas for pupils to complete.
Parents, carers, teachers and other professionals supporting children can help by asking children:
How can we feel safe in school?
What ideas do you have about things like how do we make sure everyone washes their hands?
What sort of feelings are you having about school now?
What have been their experiences of home schooling? What was good? Are there things that they would like to continue?
We need to make sure that children have a strong sense of belonging, strong relationships, a sense of agency, high expectations, and that they can meaningfully contribute to their community. A framework to promote resilience includes:
1. Create positive goals
2. Plan how to track positive change
3. Work to reduce risk while enhancing strengths
The SWAN Framework
The SWAN framework by Dr Pooky Knightsmith is a helpful prompt for schools to reflect upon when considering a positive return for pupils and families. The swan metaphor is helpful to consider what pupils need from us; an outward sense of being calm and in control, despite some frantic paddling under the water! We must be:
S - SAFE
W - Welcoming
A - All together
N - Nurturing
Safe
Our pupils need to experience a sense of both physical and emotional safety. Pupils are more likely to feel calm if we can first model a calm response to them. The part of our brain that controls anxiety and our fight/flight/freeze response is the Amygdala, and it is constantly looking out for signs of danger. We need to think about soothing children and young people’s amygdala by increasing their felt sense of safety and this may be more challenging due to Covid-19. Firstly, they will have experienced differing degrees of loss and change due to the pandemic, and secondly, we may not be able to provide physical comfort in the way we would like due to ongoing restrictions.
Alongside emotional safety, there will also be considerations for physical safety and rules that have to be in place due to Covid-19. Consider how to involve children in these rules as well as how to explain them.
Welcoming
We must ensure a welcoming environment for all. Consider how to promote a sense of belonging for not only pupils, but families and staff teams too. Think about your facial expressions, tone of voice and body language to not only let pupils know how glad you are to see them, but also to soothe their amygdala's!
Consider ways to create a sense of belonging for all - picture displays, ways to share experiences and ways to remember lost loved ones.
All Together
We are stronger as a team. It is so important to consider how to work together with families. Now more than ever, we have a shared experience with our pupils. Louise Bomber describes us and our pupils as 'fellow travellers' as Covid-19 has created a unique opportunity for shared experiences and part of the recovery will be navigating the transition back to a 'new normal' together. Consider how to ensure ongoing strong communication with families and the 'team around the child' when face to face interactions are more limited.
Nurturing
We cannot simply jump straight back into learning or focus on catching up. Our priority must first be the wellbeing of our pupils, families and staff. Pupils (and staff) may be experiencing differing levels of anxiety and being on high-alert is not conducive to learning. We must be primed to learn and build back up to readiness to learn by promoting social connections and trust.
We have more information on nurturing approaches and trauma informed approaches. Creating a sense of play and fun alongside learning will also be key here which links in with the PACE approach.
Considerations for returning to school:
Ensure you consider emotional safety alongside physical safety. Strategies to promote emotional literacy are more vital than ever. Talk about feelings, use classroom displays with words for feelings, use topic work to explore feelings and provide opportunities for emotional check-ins. See our page on emotion coaching.
We may have to be more creative than usual in thinking about ways to promote a warm and welcoming environment whilst adhering to rules around cleanliness, PPE and social distancing. How can we welcome pupils and show that we care through nurturing approaches when we are restricted physically? We might consider tone of voice, use of language, facial expressions, body positioning. As we may be limited in touch or proximity, we may have to exaggerate other soothing body cues – think big smiles and exaggerated/silly/happy movements! See the videos below.
Safe spaces or calm down areas may not be a possibility and actually, we should be considering ways to make the whole class a safe space and promote calming activities for all (see our page on inclusive practice for more).
While We Can't Hug
Social Stories
The Stars website has lots of useful resources including these social stories to support young children or children with additional support needs around going back to school.
Going back to school - simple Social Story.pdfBack to School Social Story Primary.pdfAnother story and accompanying video about going back to school in a 'bubble'.
This is a free downloadable resource for class teachers, written to support young children's emotional well-being as schools start re-opening.
Further Support for Practitioners
Education Scotland have published a wealth of resources to support school staff in considering how to support transitions for 2020.
