Schools have always been about much more than timetables and exams, but the coronavirus outbreak has emphasised just how vital they are to the communities they serve.
At Pennine Way Primary in Carlisle, staff have been working hard to help families in their hour of need.
“We’re trying to make life as stress free as possible for the community,” says deputy headteacher Andrew Beattie.
With the help of several local businesses and charities, the school has provided weekly food parcels for local families. Staff and other members of the community are delivering door-to-door, while dozens of people now come to the school every Wednesday to collect food.
“There’s a big queue of people coming each week. It’s quite sad how desperately it is needed,” says Andrew.
“The area has high social and economic deprivation, and there are a lot of people who have lost their jobs. There are many with mental health issues as well and obviously this has exacerbated those issues.”
The food parcels are in addition to the daily free school meals, and the government’s voucher scheme.
“It’s hard to say what it’ll cost the school at the end of it but to us it doesn’t really matter,” says Andrew. “The most important thing is we know that children are being fed.”
Staff have also tried to keep spirits up by posting videos online. “Before coronavirus, one of the children had been in hospital, quite seriously ill, and we used to do a thing in our wellbeing room where we’d dance around with this big unicorn.
“Then, because we were phoning every single child every week, our wellbeing staff had spoken to us and asked if we could do the dance with the unicorn for everyone, just as a bit of fun.
“So, we did that, and it took off from there and parents just said it was taking their mind off things, being able to laugh at us. And that’s fine. It’s all about wellbeing, mental health.
“The fact is, if we can just make them laugh and they see a different side to us as well, rather than being this teacher, that Mr Beattie or Mrs Blair or Mrs Watson or whatever. They see us as a real person and we’re not this person who’s just teaching their kids.
“It is also just trying to make the kids see you all the time, so they know school has not just disappeared.
“The children are really missing their friends and that seems to be the big thing, rather than the actual worry about the coronavirus. So now we’re thinking about the next stage; we’re looking at the transition back into school and how we can proactively plan for this.
“We’ve already made sure the teachers and staff have done bereavement training and mental health training. We know we’re not going to be experts but it’s important that we at least know what to say and not what to say.
“We know there are people in the community that have already lost people. We are trying to think about how we do things when they come back. There’ll be no teaching in the first two weeks. It’ll purely just be getting back into routines, meeting their friends, having the time to talk if they want to talk; if they don’t want to talk that’s absolutely fine. We’ll be doing all of that first before we even contemplate getting into formal learning.”