By Anonymous, Photo: Veryan Dale/Alamy, The Guardian, April 5, 2022
Last week, while watching an outdated DVD about “growing and changing” with my year 2 class, a child in the programme blew out their birthday candles and shared slices of the cake with their friends. Outrage in the classroom ensued. “Miss, was that before corona? That’s disgusting!”
Birthday parties are a small part of what young children have missed over the past two years. Since the first lockdown began, children have missed months of classroom learning, play dates, drama groups and football practice. Recent findings from Ofsted show the pandemic has delayed the social skills of young children – with some unable to understand facial expressions as a result. These will surprise no teacher. There have been no national lockdowns or two-week “bubble” closures during this academic year, and this relative consistency has been wonderful. But being back at school has also given staff a clearer understanding of how the pandemic has affected children’s development.
The recent reports from Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, resonate with what I’ve seen among younger children at my school. The early years non-statutory curriculum is based on the principle that all areas of learning are connected. It places greater emphasis on communication and social and physical development than the curriculum of older year groups, where progress is defined in a more traditionally academic sense. So it’s unsurprising that children who have missed months of nursery and reception – school years that teach them how to play cooperatively with others and voice their needs or ideas – are now showing gaps in these foundational skills.
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