This week we hear from Lorton Primary School to learn about how they are handling this unprecedented period, ensuring their pupils still receive an enriching educational experience, while adapting to a ‘new normal’.

Like many schools, adapting to the challenges presented has not come without a lot of soul searching for the right solutions to a plethora of issues.

In this piece, headteacher Olivia Harrison explains the courageous efforts that staff and pupils have gone to, ensuring safety as well as progress, be it in new methods of teaching, adapting to new regulations and using this time to get pupils equated with the world around them.

In many ways Lorton Primary offers us an insight into what the future may resemble as we enter a ‘new normal’.

With a strong emphasis on well-being and pastoral support as well as academic guidance during lockdown, everyone at Lorton agreed that, when schools reopened for some year groups in June, face-to-face contact with their teachers and peers was the best way to boost children’s well-being and keep them motivated to learn.

As well as having the prioritised year groups in school, staff managed to find a way to have over three quarters of our children in school at least once a week. The remaining children could come along with a parent to meet with their class teacher (socially distanced on the yard!) to receive support and be given some challenges to complete over the course of the following week, before meeting again to review their achievements.

We even managed to have five mini sports days so that at least one summer term tradition was not missed by anyone and all of the children were presented with a special medal.

Watching all of our children stepping off our buses, or skipping into school with their parents in September was a welcome sight!

Usually, every half term at Lorton sees the whole school work together on a mixed age project; the oldest children work alongside the youngest children learning about a shared topic. Whilst we couldn’t achieve the usual level of mixing the year groups, all of the children worked at the same time on Remembrance Poppy Pebbles. Children painted pebbles and then the following day the two ‘bubbles’ set off round the village, leaving their painted stones at many different locations. We have had some lovely feedback from members of the community who have been on a Poppy Pebble trail around the village.

Children have also enjoyed a Forest School session, Young Leaders’ training, cricket coaching, netball coaching as well as all our usual curriculum work. One class even went hunting on the school field for a woolly mammoth!

We are starting to give some thought to Christmas activities. No-one will be able to come and watch our Nativity, but we will be sharing a private video link with parents to ensure parents don’t miss out completely.