Molly Kingsley

Covid restrictions are taking a terrible toll on our schoolchildren

(Getty images)

In some senses, life in Britain is slowly returning to normal. Thousands of people gathered to watch Royal Ascot last week. Next week is Wimbledon, where 15,000 fans will pack into centre court to watch the finals. Meanwhile at Euro 2021, up to 65,000 people are expected to attend the tournament’s climax at Wembley.

It’s wonderful to see these sporting events back. However, it is deeply troubling that this ‘can do’ attitude doesn’t seem to apply to events holding equivalent significance in children’s lives.

The end of what has been a historically troubled school year is upon us. Usually as children prepare for the summer holidays, it’s a rare chance for them to celebrate and let their hair down: sports days, proms, discos, plays, open days and trips are the traditional climax marker of a school year.

The end of what has been a historically troubled school year is upon us

However, for the last fortnight, social media has been awash – at first with a trickle but now with a flood – of reports of these rites of passage being pared back, ‘virtualised’, or simply abandoned.

Sports days have been closed to parents or aborted entirely. Transition and open days are by default online, despite the fact the choice of school can make or break a child’s life chances. Proms, discos and parties have been axed or, like the mini-cab that’s always ‘just around the corner’, postponed until some unspecified autumn date. 

One parent tells me of a sports day which is now simply ‘with classmates’ in the normal PE lesson; another of a prom abandoned at such short notice that her children had already bought outfits. ‘There were tears,’ she told me.

There have been hundreds of examples given for why such events have been scaled back or called off altogether. ‘Covid

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