Not going to school is proving

a problem  in more ways than one. 

I know most parents here breathed a sigh of relief when our short lock down was over and their children returned to school. I also know parents in other states whose children have had almost the entire school year at home. They are struggling, really struggling. 

It is said that young students are "falling behind". There are issues around their mental health and lack of physical activity as well. I know it is not nearly as much of a worry as it is in other places but it is still of concern.

Ms W is no exception in all this. On Sunday evening she informed her father that she wished she did not have to go back to school. Now she says this on a regular basis but this time there was something to it. He asked her "why?"

It seems that the other girls (it is a single sex school) are still "catching up". Some of them are still doing work they should have completed months ago. Ms W announced she was "bored". Her father suggested asking for some more work. Apparently she had already done that. He, being in the middle of something extremely complex, appealed to me. 

I went into the school yesterday and her form teacher greeted me with, "I know why you are here. I have been meaning to ring you or her father. She needs more to do."

We agreed. Ms W watched us anxiously from afar - at the same time as she was lining up the most junior of the juniors and making sure they washed their hands "properly". Despite having no siblings she is good at this sort of thing.

I talked not just to her form teacher but the head of the Middle School, the Maths teacher and the French teacher. Her form teacher takes her for English. Project? 

Ms W is good at Maths but she is not fond of it. Something there? Science? No.  She prefers English and languages. Anything extra should be work but also enjoyable.

As she is already the youngest in her class by almost twelve months and still far more interested in books than boys she is something of a problem. Her father's job means that she has sometimes met people who appear frequently on the news or in the press. She is happy to talk to them and has frequently been acknowledged for being able to do so "sensibly". It isn't something she talks about, especially at school.

We asked her for ideas. Now she is already learning, Latin, French and - an extra outside school - Italian. 

    "I want to learn Spanish too. Lots of countries use Spanish, not just Spain. It might be useful."

Of course the school does not teach Spanish. It does teach Japanese but she is adamant she does not want to learn Japanese. Her father does not want her to do it either. He thinks it is badly taught in schools - and I have to agree. 

And what else might she want to do? 

    "Well when Dad and I did our ride yesterday we saw you up at the creek but you were too far away to say hello. We were looking at things up there. I might start to do a project about that. If I start now then it will be spring and that is the sort of the start of things. I could go all through spring and go on doing bits over into next year. I think I could photograph it and then draw it and write about it. It would mean finding out what sort of things grow up there and perhaps talking to some of the people who live there and why they do. I could turn it into something to make everyone else aware of what  really happens  up there."

She has obviously thought about this. It is the sort of thing she would be good at too. She would need to organise it herself. 

I think she has found her own project. Her form teacher has told her to "write a proposal" and it will get discussed. It means she will be getting a head start on something they all need to do next year and in a more detailed long term way. It won't do her any harm. 

But I thought of the other students, those still "catching up" and I am concerned for them. Is "catching up" really that important? What do we mean by it? Of course they need to learn because learning is their form of work but isn't their mental health as important as their classroom learning? So many of them are very unsettled right now. I am glad I am not teaching them.