Teachers from a Penrith primary school pulled out all the stops to welcome youngsters back to the classroom this week.
Staff at Beaconside Primary School created a video to ease the transition back to school for children who returned yesterday.
The video saw teachers re-enact outdoor mischief – including a sword fight with sticks – music lessons, discos and other aspects of school life before each welcoming their pupils back to their classrooms with a wave.
Headteacher Nick Page said: “It’s been very positive. Seeing doors open and smiling happy teachers, I hope the video can go some of the way to reassuring children and parents about the return to school.
“All the children came in smiling telling members of staff that they’d seen them on the video. It definitely bridged the gap from home back to school.
“Alongside this we’ve also written postcards to the children and phoned some of the more worried children to make sure they are able to feel safe.
“It’s been absolutely fantastic to have the children back. We do this job because we enjoy it so getting back and seeing children laughing with their friends, to learning with us and playing outside has been lovely.
Emma Short, English teacher and senior leadership team member, took the lead on the project.
She said: “Really we just wanted the transition back to school to be as easy as possible and to send out a positive message.
“We wanted to give something back to the parents who have been so supportive over the lockdown period and the last 12 months. They have sent messages and biscuits and just been so amazing to us throughout this tough time.
“We started these kinds of videos almost a year ago now. They began as photo slideshows about what we are missing away from school or for special events like VE Day.
“The response has been amazing. We’ve had over 80 comments which is massive for us.
“Some of the little ones said that seeing their teachers on the video was like them being on TV.
“We genuinely have missed them all. I just want to keep this positive energy going.
“The whole staff have gone above and beyond over lockdown delivering lessons over Zoom so to see the kids all come bouncing in was so lovely.”
- What has your school done to welcome back pupils? How has your first week been? We’d love to see your photos and videos of the first week back after lockdown. Email nicoler@barrnonmedia.com
