I MUST commend the work of schools in the East Hampshire district which have remained open throughout lockdown and two school holidays, so far, for vulnerable children and the sons and daughters of key workers; as well as, since June 1, additional children from Reception Year, Year 1 and Year 6.

More recently, young people in Year 10 and 12 have been able to access face-to-face contact with their subject tutors to help them with their studies.

Across Hampshire, more than 38,000 children are attending school daily. Of these, 2,759 are in the East Hampshire area. The ingenuity and resourcefulness of schools all over the county has been really impressive.

Alongside the activities they have put in place for children who are in school, they have maintained an interesting curriculum of learning, both at primary and secondary level, for the majority of children and young people who have been doing their school work at home.

At secondary level, schools have been making the most of modern technology including Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom to provide whole-class lessons.

The timetables which have been adapted for home schooling during lockdown have built in vital well-being and exercise breaks.

Primary schools have been creative in their approach to engaging children in learning activities. And I’ve seen how some schools have developed a daily blog for children in every year group.

These are beautifully presented and set out exciting and fun tasks for the children to do at home.

Schools are going to great lengths to keep in touch with their pupils; setting up a Facebook page, for example, where children can share their work with their teachers and classmates.

Some schools have even established a virtual play time so classmates can see and speak to each other informally.

It is true that the length of time some children have not been at school is not insignificant – approximately 50 school days (March 18 to June 26) – and we welcome the government’s announcement of a Covid catch-up plan and funding but, at the time of writing, we await their further decisions relating to the prime minister’s announcement of a full return by all year groups to school in September.

On behalf of Hampshire County Council, I wish to convey a huge thank you to every member of staff in each of our schools for continuing to look after Hampshire’s children and their education. We are all very grateful and proud to have such committed school staff in this county.

* By Councillor Roz Chadd

Executive member for education and skills, Hampshire County Council