THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC

COVID: THE GOOD, THE BAD

AND THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON A MULGRAVE EDUCATION

LINDSEY BERNS (she/her) | DEPUTY HEAD OF SCHOOL

In March 2020, we were in the midst of developing Mulgrave’s 2021-24 Strategic Plan, and had just identified three main areas of focus: student health and well-being; personalisation of learning, including through the use of technology; and skill development, including global citizenship.

At the time, of course, we could not have anticipated how the world - and the world of education - were about to be radically transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. But more than a year later, as we reflect on what we’ve learned from our pandemic experiences, we find that those three themes emerge again and again. We’ve seen how decisions made in one part of the world can affect the lives of people thousands of kilometres away, and understood that we are indeed global citizens and “all in this together.” We’ve seen that community, connection, and a shared sense of purpose are vital for individual well-being - for adults as well as children. And we’ve remembered that the best teachers don’t just teach Math or Chinese - they teach students, and each student has different needs, different strengths, and different goals to strive towards.

As a school, we had developed learning continuity plans to prepare for the possibility of an extended campus closure, and so were better prepared for the lockdown than many other schools. Still, when the time came, our faculty faced an extraordinary challenge. Teachers at Mulgrave take great pride in developing a classroom culture characterised by close relationships and collaboration, where students feel encouraged to take risks and challenge themselves in the pursuit of their personal best. How, we wondered, could we replicate that special culture...over Zoom? Every lesson had to be reimagined, every activity rethought.

“WE CAN DO

HARD THINGS”GLENNON DOYLE

they need to feel that they belong. So they decided to prioritise connection: more frequent Advisory sessions, regular one-to-one check-in meetings with each student, referrals to the school counsellors and learning strategists for students in need of additional support. If I had a hundred pages, I could only begin to describe the teamwork, creativity and innovation the faculty displayed during those months of ‘e-Learning’, or the patience, compassion and grace they extended to our students and to one another.

When our campus finally reopened for in-person learning, we faced new challenges in the form of safety protocols and restrictions that forced us to radically reconsider...nearly everything. We knew that some of the changes we had to make, like suspending music performances and athletic competitions, would be painful but temporary. But in other areas, we sensed a golden opportunity to try out new ideas and different ways of doing things that might actually work better, in the long term, for our students and our community.

Here are a few of the lasting changes we intend to make as a result of what we’ve learned:

• To reduce the number of people using the entrances and corridors, we had to stagger school drop-off and pick-up times, so the start time for the Middle and Senior Schools was pushed back to 9:00am.

Educational research suggests that adolescents, because of their circadian rhythms, are better rested and more able to learn when school starts later, and our teachers are certainly finding this to be the case.

The students love it, too. Win-win! experiences and blending online and in-person instruction in innovative ways. This year, we’ve been piloting online modules in certain subjects, allowing selected students to complete some of their learning in a self-paced online format, with teacher support available as needed. This introduces more flexibility into those students’ daily schedules, and promotes the development of the self-management and organisational skills that are so important for future success.

• Spending time in nature promotes both physical and mental well-being, and this year, ‘outdoors’ has also been the safest place to be. We are greatly increasing our emphasis on outdoor education and on ‘taking learning outdoors’ - encouraging students to inquire and learn about the world using the forest as their classroom.

• While not being able to welcome parents into the building has been one of the most challenging aspects of this pandemic year, there were some silver linings. When we were forced to move all our

Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences, Coffee Mornings and Open Doors online, we found that participation actually increased, and many parents appreciated the convenience of being able to attend without having to take time away from work or childcare responsibilities.

Moving forward, we will offer both online and inperson options for these types of events.

We’ve learned a lot from COVID - about new and different ways of teaching and learning, and supporting and caring for one another. But perhaps the greatest lesson I’ve learned about our community is summed up by a sign I noticed recently in one of our Grade 5 classrooms: “WE CAN DO HARD THINGS.”