Schools must be equipped to deal with wellbeing of pupils

Responding to @ONS findings that 42 percent of parents are worried about the impact on the mental health and well-being of their children when returning to school, @LibDems Education Spokesperson Layla Moran said: 

“It is completely understandable that parents are concerned about the wellbeing of their children on their return to school. Every parent who has struggled to explain to their children why they cannot play on the swings or cuddle their grandparents will know how hard keeping in bubbles will be.

“Schools must be well equipped to deal with the added confusion and worry this will cause. Whilst grants provided for mental health support in schools were welcome, the Government urgently needs to scale up this support to help far more pupils returning in September. Ministers must tackle this head on.”

Almost 7 in 10 (65%) adults with children of school age reported that the children or young people in their household had been asked to return to school or college during June and July. Of these, over 6 in 10 (63%) said that all children or young people that had been asked, had attended school or college, with a further 1 in 5 (19%) reporting that some had attended, and some had not.

The most common reason given for children not returning to school during June and July when they had been asked to, was because of concerns around them catching the coronavirus (COVID-19) – almost half (49%) of respondents reported feeling this way.

Almost 9 in 10 adults with children of school age (89%) reported that it was either very or fairly likely that those children would return to school or college when the new term begins. Over 6 in 10 adults with children who will be of school age next term (62%) reported that they are very or somewhat worried about the children or young people in their household returning to school or college.

The concerns respondents reported most frequently were that they were worried about their children catching the coronavirus (COVID-19) when attending school or college (58%), and that they were worried about the impact on the mental health and well-being of their children because of the changes in schools and college because of the virus (42%).

Indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey covering the period 16 July to 19 July 2020 to understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on people, households and communities in Great Britain.