A tale of two lockdowns – how digital transformed home schooling in the Baker household

I will always remember the fear and trepidation I felt on March 18 2020 when the announcement came – all schools were to close.

It was difficult to believe the events unfolding around us, this was a situation our generation had never faced.

And the worry for my children – and all children’s future – engulfed me as I struggled to comprehend how this would all work itself out.

Perhaps it would only just be for a few weeks until we flatten the curve, I tried to reassure myself. We can cope with a few weeks and children are resilient…

On that last Wednesday of school my then 9 year-old daughter came home with a bulging home learning pack folder filled with dozens and dozens of worksheets. The school set a timetable for each year group to try and give us some structure to this new world we were entering.

However, it was clear the pack had hastily been put together and had just enough work to get us through the few weeks we all hoped this would only last for.

My then 13 year-old son came home from his secondary school with all his exercise books. He was told he would be emailed assignments and he had to complete them in his books.

At the time I was furloughed from my last job and for the first time I felt grateful for that. I hated not being in work and worrying about my future but at least it afforded me the time to help my children. How working parents coped was always at the back of mind.

Within weeks my son’s school set him up on Microsoft Teams and through that he was soon able to access and submit his work. Paper was still very much used, and he was taking photos of his work and sending them to school. It was an improvement but there was barely any interaction with his teachers.

Meanwhile my daughter and I dutifully ploughed through her worksheets – following the timetable set by school. There was no way of sending the work back to her teacher so I meticulously kept all her work so, hopefully, she could show her teacher one day.

Weeks soon turned into months – the Easter holidays flashed by – and there were no more worksheets left.

After Easter my daughter’s school uploaded work on to its website – pdfs we had to print at home – and our home-schooling folders were getting bigger by the day. We were able to email the teacher if we needed help and he would give us a call, but, by and large, we were on our own.

As the summer holidays drew closer I asked my daughter’s school if we should bring her work into school – and we were told no. I can completely understand; how would a teacher be able to go through months and months of work for 30 pupils? But it showed me that a paper-method of home schooling was very far from ideal and antiquated at that.

The thoughts of home schooling were put to the back of my brain and we enjoyed a summer of freedom and seeing friends again.

I secured a new job at Dorset Council in September and, best of all, my children were back in school. It made them realise just how much they missed school, and boy, it made me appreciate the hard work and dedication of the teachers even more.

A second lockdown came in November, but the schools remained open. Could we get through this crisis without ever having to close schools again?

Deep down I knew it was likely that school closures would happen in the winter if a second wave occurred.

And it was also clear when the inevitable happened that the schools have been working tirelessly behind the scenes for that very eventuality.

This time round my now 10 year-old came home with a home learning pack – but this time it contained her personal log-in details for Microsoft Teams.

Paper is still involved, but this time she can upload the work to teams and receives daily feedback from her teacher.

In addition, she has a weekly virtual guided reading session and a class assembly.

My 14 year-old son’s experience with Microsoft Teams has also evolved. As well as being set assignments on Teams, he now gets to participate in two to three live online lessons a day. He’s getting to talk to his teachers and the feedback is far more regular.

And last week we even enjoyed a virtual parents evening for my son. Conducted on Google Classroom, it was like speed dating. We had a set 5-minute video chat with each teacher and even had a countdown to show when our session was coming to an end.

It was actually better than going into school and queueing behind that one parent that always takes up more of the teacher’s time than everybody else.

Now, after that great parents’ evening, we’re now all geared up to choose his GCSE options – all done online of course.

Is it all plain sailing now? No, we still have many ups and downs and good and bad days. Is it far better than the first lockdown? By a mile. Even though I’m now having to combine my own working from home with schooling, the interaction and daily feedback from teachers does mean I’m not needed as much (I appreciate that won’t be the same for parents of much younger children).

Is digital home learning any replacement for school itself? Not in a million years. But what it has done has made a situation none of us want to be in, so much easier.

I say ‘us’ but of course that can only apply to the lucky ones who have enough devices to spread among a family.

Digital can only work for all, when we are all digitally included.

This lockdown has shone a light on just how essential digital has become in our everyday lives. It’s also highlighted how we need to prioritise helping those who are digitally excluded – whether that be through not being able to afford devices, poor connectivity or a lack of skills.

I do have one (not very serious) plea to schools. You’ve done an amazing job in bringing school to life through our children’s screens and we can’t thank you enough. But, and there is a but – please, please, please can we still have snow days? They so rarely happen in Dorset and when/if it does this amazing group of children deserve a day off from their screens and a snowball fight or two…