With fresh restrictions being introduced to slow the spread of Omicron we once again face the threat of disruption to education, but at what cost to education?

For this post we hand over to our new contributor, David Vernon, executive principal at Diverse Academies. This academy trust is made up of secondary, primary and special schools in Nottinghamshire. They have worked extensively with our team at OLEVI, in particular in the development of coaching skills.

The show must go on!

As we approach the Christmas break, our communities are once again grappling with additional measures and restrictions in their lives, following the UK Government’s announcement of ‘Plan B’ in the face of the new Omicron variant. In the academies where I work, as with schools up and down the country, we have already seen additional control measures and contingency frameworks put in place. The fluidity of change and the need for an agile response to evolving circumstances is something we have become all too adept at.

I am an executive principal of two large secondary academies in Nottinghamshire, which are part of Diverse Academies Trust. Over the past three-and-a-half months, Covid has, at times, continued to dominate our conversations. At its peak in the first half term, and on one single day in one of my academies, We had 151 students across key stages 3 and 4, and 30 members of staff, isolating due to Covid-19. We also suffered the very sad loss of a colleague due to Covid and understandably this hit our staff team hard.

In the education sector we face ongoing challenges and a need to move quickly in response to government briefings; changing guidance; additional plans for testing; contingency planning should formal examinations be unable to go ahead and putting in place alternative plans to assess students; school immunisations; and the list goes on. For colleagues, this can be exhausting. But also throw into the mix the additional stress on our students in years 11 and 13 who face the uncertainty of final assessments and not knowing whether their forthcoming mock exams will count towards a grade or not. The impact of this on their wellbeing is not going unnoticed.

Collectively, we must of course remain positive and focused on what is important. As a Trust, our mission is core to what we do and why – we nurture curiosity, develop wellbeing and empower children and young people to go beyond their aspirations. Together, we make a difference in our diverse communities and in the lives of those who learn with us and work with us. So now, more than ever, providing stability for the children and young people in our care couldn’t be more important.

As an organisation we continue to push forward with our strategic priorities and the professional development of our staff, at all levels and in all roles, whilst mindful of the need to balance this with wellbeing. We are fostering a culture of increased collaboration and coaching through our Diverse Association for Professional Learning. To maximise opportunities for our people to share best practice, we have broken continuing professional development (CPD) into three distinct categories using the TLC model of ‘technical’, ‘leadership’ and ‘coaching’. Through this, we aim to focus development in areas that we know will support professional development, but also extend knowledge and experience for the benefit of the wider organisation. We acknowledge and embrace the differences between professional and instructional coaching styles, as well as mentoring, and regularly seek out opportunities to collaborate with others. We are making a significant investment in time and budget to develop knowledge of coaching across the organisation.

Schools are about so much more than academic performance, and Covid has meant that many things have been taken away from our students’ experiences. I look forward to once again initiating many more of the things intrinsic to the learning experience – enrichment, plays and performances, trips and visits, and so on. I am a father myself. My youngest is in year 9 and he hasn’t been on a school trip since he started secondary. It is a difficult line to walk to be bold and brave and stay safe in a changing climate. However, amongst the noise and distractions, we mustn’t lose focus of the child at the heart of the decisions we make. In a secondary setting, it is likely that a student will only be with you for five years – if they joined in year 7 during the pandemic, they are already close to the halfway through their secondary life. A pause for thought. I find myself asking whether in some instances is it worth not taking the risk?

My final reflections of the year are best summarised by ‘togetherness’. It is humbling to see how staff support one another in difficult times. So, despite Covid-19, the show must go on as they say.

I’d like to offer my sincere thanks to David for his contribution and look forward to hearing his perspective in future posts.

Take care and stay safe

George