Health boss points to impact of school closures on Hertfordshire's pupils

Two out of three children in Hertfordshire say they were not contacted by their school during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to a new survey.

On March 23, schools closed their doors to pupils – except the children of key workers and the most vulnerable – in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19.

And pupils were then able to access schoolwork set by their teachers, with parents thrown into the role of tutors.

Now a survey of almost 700 children and young people – reported to a meeting of the Herts Valleys CCG board on Thursday (July 23) – has highlighted the impact that school ‘closures’ during lockdown have had.

And CCG managing director David Evans told the board they would have to look at the mental health support that would be required after they had settled back into school.

Mr Evans told the board that according to the 700-strong survey, which was conducted in June, most children and young people had found learning at home difficult.

He said that two out of three pupils reported that they had not been contacted by their school, to see how they had been coping.

And he said they had pointed to the volume of work that had been set and to unrealistic expectations.

“We do need to plan around coming into winter what mental health support we provide to those children,” he told the board.

“Because the immediate rush of meeting your friends masks what will be the longer term need going forward once everything settles down and we go back into what is ever this new normal, as is quoted.”

In his written report to the board Mr Evans said that children and young people were keen to return to school – mainly to see friends.

But, he said, they were concerned about what school would be like when they returned.

He reported that many schools were already taking steps to communicate to pupils what school will look like on their return with the use of videos and photos.

He said focus groups with public health had been looking at the support that would be required. And he said good practice from schools was bring shared virtually.

But following the meeting officials from Hertfordshire County Council – which jointly commissioned the survey with the Integrated Health and Care commissioning team, which works on behalf of both Hertfordshire CCGs – questioned some of the CCG’s interpretations.

A county council spokesperson said that although the survey suggests two out of three children and young people had not been contacted by their school, this did not reflect the overall reality.

And although most young people in the survey said they had had too much work, she said there is no reason for the survey to suggest this was affecting their mental health.

She also stressed that the responses to the online survey were a small fraction of the county’s 197,000 school age population.

And she said schools were “acutely aware” of the need to support students’ mental health.

In addition she highlighted guidance issued to schools including support for returning students’ mental health and a webinar – attended by more than 1000 young people where public health and education officials were available to answer questions.

She also reported that the majority of primary schools in the county had reopened to additional pupils from June 1 – and that all secondary schools reopened for additional pupils from June 15.

Conducted in June, the ‘Young People’s Emotional Well-being Survey is the second survey that has been conducted since the start of the ‘lockdown’ period.

It was designed to focus on the impact of lockdown on young peoples health and well-being and how they are feeling about returning to school.

Over a period of thee weeks it was distributed by YC Hertfordshire, Young Commissioners, the NCS Grad board and Empathy project volunteers – as well as being promoted through Instagram and Twitter. There were 681 responses.