The Lockdown Generation: Children must be at heart of pandemic planning, leader warns

Among those most affected were children. Most did not attend school during the lockdowns, and exams were cancelled.

Baroness Anne Longfield, who now is the executive chairman of thinktank Centre For Young Lives, was a key player in discussions around school closures as covid gripped the country.

While she supported schools being closed to all but children of keyworkers for the first lockdown, she has since been outspoken about the impact of further school closures on children’s wellbeing.

Closures were on and off for almost a year with most children not returning permanently to schools until March 8 2021.

Most students completed learning virtually, with exams cancelled and grades given on the basis of teacher assessments and algorithms.

A study from the University of Oxford published in 2023 found that closures had contributed to “worsening physical and mental health, loss of learning and increased domestic violence.”

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Baroness Longfield said: “I made it my mission as Children’s Commissioner to make sure we dedicated to looking at every angle of the impact of children.

“The first lockdown was clearly necessary but there were opportunities to open up schools earlier that weren’t taken.

“When we moved to greater socialisation in June 2020, the decision was taken to keep schools closed but open shops, theme parks and zoos. That was devastating for children and parents.”

Children from disadvantaged backgrounds were particularly affected by the closures, she said.

Baroness Longfield has contributed to the ongoing Covid inquiry where she openly criticised the Government’s decision to close schools again in 2021.

She said: “I hope the inquiry is an opportunity to put a spotlight on the impact on children, and learn from it.

“We need to remember and learn from what we’ve experienced so far. We need a new infrastructure in government around protecting children.

“Other countries have a much more expletive commitment to children, and they undertook impact assessment on decisions they made and how they affected children.

“Children need to be a priority in any emergency planning, which we don’t have today but I hope we’ll have in the future.”

A key part of that work should be making sure schools are prepared, Baroness Longfield said.

“Schools need to be as resilient as they can be,” she said. “The majority of mainstream schools didn’t have the tech and confidence to move to online learning. Private schools did - they were using tech anyway and could move seamlessly online.

“We need to make sure all our services for children are as resilient as they can be.

“Many services are still overwhelmed and need to become much more sustainable. It was a test of how we supported children at the time - and it was a test we largely failed and need to learn from.”

A UK Covid-19 Inquiry spokesperson said: “The pandemic had a huge, life-altering impact on the lives of children and young people. That is why we are devoting an entire investigation into their experiences, including four weeks of evidence this Autumn. We are seeking evidence on the impact of the pandemic on, amongst other topics, children’s development, and health and wellbeing.

“We have collected the testimonies of 600 children and young people aged between nine and 22 through our Children and Young People’s Voices research project. This includes the views of young people disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, including those with special educational needs and physical disabilities.

“This research will be published ahead of hearings and findings will inform our investigation and help shape the Chair’s recommendations so we are better prepared for the next pandemic.”

Just this week details of the numbers of children absent from school for long periods of time which have been put down to coronavirus have been released.

Department for Education (DfE) data indicates that 2.3 per cent of pupils were “severely absent”, which means they missed at least 50 per cent of possible school sessions, in 2023/24, compared with two per cent in 2022/23.

Overall, 171,269 pupils were classed as severely absent last academic year, up from 150,256 in 2022/23. It is the highest number recorded since the current DfE data began in 2006/07.

In 2018/19, the last academic year before the pandemic, 60,247 were classed as severely absent.

A school leaders’ union warned last week that some families see school as “optional” since the pandemic.

The latest DfE data, published on Thursday, suggests that the number of unauthorised pupil absences from schools in England increased last year.

The unauthorised absence rate rose from 2.4 per cent in 2022/23 to 2.5 per cent in 2023/24, according to the figures. In 2018/19, the rate was only 1.4 per cent.

Last week, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson called on school and college leaders to “catch up fast” to improve pupil attendance, as she said that some schools were “not making enough progress” on absences.

Overall, the absence rate decreased from 7.4 per cent in 2022/23 to 7.1 per cent in 2023/24, but it remains higher than pre-pandemic rates of 4.7 per cent, the data suggests.

One in five of pupils in England, about 1.49 million young people, were “persistently absent” during the 2023/24 school year, which means they missed 10 per cent or more school sessions.

The former Conservative government announced plans to hike fines for pupil absences in February last year, to boost attendance since the pandemic.

In September, school absence fines in England rose from £60 to £80, and a parent who receives a second fine for the same child within a three-year period will now receive a £160 fine.

The latest DfE attendance data covers the last academic year before fines for unauthorised absences were increased.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “It is clear that there are still far too many children missing out on significant portions of their education.

“Although there are signs of improvement in some areas, the rates of persistent and severe absence remain a real concern.”

In a speech in Liverpool last Saturday, Mr Di’Iasio, the former headteacher of Wales High School in Rotherham, said school had become “optional” for some families since the pandemic and he added that the “blunt instrument” of fines for unauthorised absences was not reversing the trend.

Beth Prescott, education lead at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), added: “Five years on from the pandemic, the school absence crisis continues to rip the futures away from our children with record levels of so-called “Ghost Children”, one in four kids persistently absent, and nearly half of those doing GCSEs skipping school.

“The Secretary of State for Education is right to prioritise this crisis and the need to rebuild the partnership between home, school and the Government.

“We urgently need to get parents on board and support schools through the national rollout of attendance mentors.”