Here we go again!

January, and we find ourselves in the entirely predictable situation of another lockdown. We were back at school for just the one day, having been told that they were safe the day before. Then we were told to close as schools were a ‘vector of transmission’ and thus not safe. So here we go yet again!

Despite the impression given in some places, we are still open but only for some of our students. None of us are at home with our feet up. Far from it. I’ve been in every day this term, part of the onsite team that’s supporting vulnerable students. Teachers are teaching full time from home, which they’ve had to adapt to very quickly indeed. Students are on the same timetabled lessons they would have had in the past but are now doing them online. We are doing the very best we can to deliver the education they would have had. This despite everything going on around us.

Every day I sit in my designated chair in my designated room with my designated student. We all wear a mask all day. Break and lunchtimes are time away from screens. There’s a desperate rush to get fresh air and move about when we can. But, boy, has it been cold outside. It’s been freezing cold at times, with a bitter wind but most of us troop outside if only to take our masks off.

It’s dark when I leave in the morning and dark getting home late in the afternoon. So weekends give me a chance to see what’s going on in the garden. Unfortunately it’s been so persistently wet that the ground has become a quagmire. Venturing out is brief and only when needed, feeding the birds and a quick glance around. There have been frosty mornings and a short spell of snow. The passing of dark lockdown January can’t come soon enough.