On 22 February, the Prime Minister announced the reopening of schools on 8 March and the beginning of a return to normality. We had been waiting for this moment since the onset of the lockdown in early January, and the news was received with excitement and happiness among staff, students and parents. We immediately set out to draw plans for the students’ return under the government guidelines around quarantines and testing. Given our positive experience from the previous term, in which Brockwood had functioned safely and normally, we are aiming at recreating the Brockwood bubble to continue our provision undisturbed until the end of the academic year.

When the third lockdown was announced, with the experience gained from the March 2020 lockdown, we swiftly moved to remote learning, improving our provision online by adding other important aspects of the school’s curriculum, including sports, Core Group meetings, and school meetings. We all understand that remote learning does not benefit students as fully as regular school life, where contact with fellow students and staff provides important socialisation and learning. We are also fully aware that students tend to struggle more with online classes, and so we make special provision for this. Our tutors and academic advisers are making additional efforts to provide support for those most in need, to ensure that they are not left behind and that any academic or personal issue is addressed as it arises.

Covid-19 has generated a general fatigue in society at large and, as we deal with a third lockdown, a pervasive sense of déjà vu. In the education sector, most parents, students, and teachers struggle with this state of affairs, which poses a challenge for us all. As with any challenge that we encounter in our lives, facing the reality it presents and not pining for different scenarios is the key to maintaining order and avoiding despair and negativity. In education, and in many forms of therapy, resilience is constantly cited as an essential quality to foster in order to better live in this highly competitive and tough world. From its inception, Brockwood Park has approached this issue by encouraging staff and students to explore together the question of what it means to be a light to oneself. In a chaotic world, learning to think for oneself independently is one of our primary concerns, so that staff and students are not manipulated by the immense pressures around us and within us, and so that we can all lead sane lives and be resilient.