Covid-19: Home schooling across the New Forest
Useful resources and advice for parents from the British Psychological Society
School's out! Except it's not. Schools in the UK are now closed for an undefined period of time for all but the children of key workers, leaving parents to follow school guidelines and home educate their children - whilst at the same time having to work from home too.
A recipe for disaster? Or precious family time together? Locally we're fortunate to live with the New Forest National Park and the Solent shore within easy reach - do make time to get outside to get fresh air and exercise daily if possible.
We've gathered here some useful information that could help...
Useful to know - resources available for home schooling
- Twinkl.co.uk are offering a free month of home learning resources: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/how-to-utilise-twinkl-during-the-coronavirus-shutdown-a-guide-for-schools
- Premier Education are offering free home learning resources: https://www.premier-education.com/stay-active/
- White Rose Maths may help - there's a Home Learning section specifically for different year groups and a problem on the day. https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/?fbclid=IwAR2gWthfu3Gtv5VkDTQoibUYt4H3Q-8cQqPeO058oYWFP_b_quAEFlzqHoU
- Audible.com are offering free streaming of stories for children and teens for as long as schools are closed, including titles across six different languages, that will help children continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. Explore the collection, select a title and start listening. https://stories.audible.com/start-listen
- Joe Wicks, the Body Coach is doing free PE every day at 9am on Youtube - 30 min workouts for kids, live every day. Great fun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8o8wMgAT-Y
- Explore museums online. There are various platforms: from interactive, 360-degree videos and full “walk-around” tours with voiceover descriptions to slideshows with zoomable photos of the world’s greatest artworks. And many allow viewers to get closer to the art than they could do in real life. Try the Natural History Museum: https://artsandculture.withgoogle.com/naturalhistorymuseum/, the British Museum: https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/ and the National Gallery: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtual-tours/google-virtual-tour for example
Local resources
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Closer to home, take the virtual tour of St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=PcS9Xyz4DuW
- Local resident, Daniella Othman, has made a colouring sheet of Lymington to keep children (and adults!) occupied. Click on the link below to download it, it's free and can be sized up to A4 size without losing resolution. https://gumroad.com/l/TwURu
If you are aware of any other local resources, please get in touch to let us know on
Advice from the British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society have also asked schools to share some advice with you that is as follows:
- Don’t try to replicate a full school timetable – It won’t be possible to replicate a full school timetable for a variety of reasons. Giving yourself and your children permission to accept this can be a big weight lifted.
- Expect stress – This is an uncertain and unpredictable situation, stress and anxiety are normal.
- Reassure children – Children can sometimes believe they are responsible for things that are clearly beyond their control. Reassure children that it is the adult’s job to make sure things are OK and to keep them safe.
- Help children stay connected to their friends – Friendships are a key resiliency factor for children and young people. Most children see their friends nearly every day of the week and so not being in contact with them for some time might be upsetting. Is it possible for children to talk to their friends on the phone? Perhaps establish a group Skype or WhatsApp call? Perhaps they could write letters to each other.
- Normalise the experience – Normalising the experience is likely to reduce anxiety for many children. Reassure children that lots of adults and other children are in the same situation.
Have a routine and structure – Having a plan and a predictable routine for the day can be very reassuring. As adults we like to know what is going to happen, and children like this too. A consistent routine lets everyone be secure about the plans for the day. It is often useful to involve children in creating this routine, so that they feel part of the plan, rather than the plan being imposed on them. You could display the routine using a timeline, or maybe pictures and visuals. Encourage children to develop independence by referring to their own routine/plan themselves.
- Don’t worry if the routine isn’t perfect – Remember, this isn’t a normal situation. If you find that planning and sticking to the routine is causing more stress, friction or conflict, then it’s OK to be more ‘free-flow’. Perhaps be guided by the activities that children want to do.
- Avoid putting too much pressure on academic work – Most parents and carers aren’t teachers and so it’s OK not to be doing ‘school work’ for six hours a day. It might be more important to be spending time together, building relationships, enjoying shared activities and reassuring children, as opposed to replicating the school timetable.
- Try to keep work in one place – If children are doing school work or project work at home, try to keep it all in one place so that it doesn’t spread out over the house. This can help to maintain a work/home boundary. We know that people live in different circumstances that might mean this isn’t always possible, so perhaps there might be other ways to ‘signal’ the end of working e.g. putting away the work and then enjoying a favourite song or shared dance!
- Reduce access to rolling news – It is important to keep up to date with new developments and announcements, but it can be hard to switch off from the constant stream of news from media outlets and social media. Reduce the time spent hearing, reading or watching news – at the moment it might be overwhelming for adults and children. Try to protect children from distressing media coverage.
- Supervise children with screens – It is likely that children and young people will be using screens more often over the coming weeks e.g. phones, tablets, gaming consoles and the internet. If this is the case make sure they are supervised. Ensure appropriate content filters are active – the UK Safer Internet Centre offers guidance on setting up parental control. Try to ensure all children have a balanced range of activities each day. Involve children and young people in these discussions so that they feel part of the plan.
- Provide reassurance about exams being cancelled – Young people may now be concerned about the announcement that exams later this year will not be going ahead as planned. They may feel like all their hard work has been for nothing. Reassure young people that the Prime Minister has said that all children and young people will get the qualification they worked towards, but acknowledge that the plan is a bit uncertain right now. Reassure young people that the government and Department for Education are working on a plan.
- Play – Play is fundamental to children’s wellbeing and development – children of all ages! It’s also a great way to reduce stress in adults.
Additional websites for information
A self help guide: https://www.annafreud.org/selfcare/
The mix - a help line for children who can text to talk to people: https://www.themix.org.uk/
Childline has a whole section on calmness and mental health: https://www.childline.org.uk/
Need some help with home learning?: https://www.skillsbuilder.org/homelearning
Autism Wessex – for students who have a diagnosis of ASD: https://www.autismwessex.org.uk
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Find other useful information during the coronavirus crisis here - including community help groups. This includes a printable postcard that you can drop round to neighbours (do knock on their door and say hello too) - remember some of your neighbours may not have access to the internet or social media.
Find details of New Forest businesses carrying out local deliveries here.
Many thanks to Bournemouth School for the information from the British Psychological Society and additional websites for information.
Andrew McCleave, Headmaster at Ballard School, said: “I am very proud of all our pupils who participated in the ISA London West Athletics and National Athletics; their achievements were outstanding across the board.”
As well as winning a wide range of team competitions, the school also supports pupils in their success out of school across a wide range of sports and has strong links with local sports clubs, providing further opportunity and encouragement for those pupils who wish to develop into county, national and, potentially, international players.
Finding things for the children to do whilst you are working can be a real chore. In a bid to try and make things slightly easier for you, here is a summary of holiday children that is usually on offer in and around Lymington.
The Kitchen Cookery School
Parties for grown ups too!
In this class students will explore dance through stories, music and use of props. Ballet can help your child to grow in confidence, improve their level of focus, develop strong bodies and nurture a love of music and culture. It also gives the opportunity to make new friends and to be inspired by older ballet dancers.
Drama is so good for young children: it teaches them not only how to speak clearly, loudly and with confidence, but many other communication skills as well, such as maintaining eye contact when talking. 
Although we have the wonders of the New Forest on our doorstep, there are times when only the magic of a playground will do. Here is a guide to some of Lymington's playgrounds - by three intrepid 'experts.'
“This is really fun because there’s lots of stuff to do in all the gardens.” 
“Really good because its new.”
“A great playground for a quick play, but sometimes busy.”
“Its a bit different - we love the zipwire!”
Dogs were predators thousands of years ago when they were wolves. They are now completely domesticated and tap into their owner's needs. They have evolved to do this over thousands of years and they are now firmly ensconced in our homes. They are easily trained and their main goal in life is to be part of the family and love us!
I've learnt so much about rabbits from books, the internet and the bunny forums that I joined. But mainly from Oscar himself. Being an indoor, free roaming house bunny I have studied him at great length. He is a funny, affectionate, clever and loving little chap. He loves attention and grooms me. He has to be part of everything so follows me around the house - probably in the hope of getting a treat!
Rabbits' diets should consist mainly of hay which must be available at all times, a small amount of fresh food and an egg cup of nuggets and fresh water.
A rabbit can live up to 12 years old just like cats and dogs so a very long commitment
Cheryl Hadland, Managing Director for Tops Day Nurseries, commented on the opening, “The beautiful All Saints Church has been open to change for a number of years. A variety of options were considered including developing social housing, a restaurant, convenience store or homeless shelter, but instead we will be bringing a much needed childcare setting for the area, open for 52 weeks of the year therefore assisting with local families to return to work should they wish or need to. Initially, and at least for the next 12 months, we will only be a small nursery in the Church Hall welcoming 18 month to 4 year olds.
We will be open Monday to Friday while still supporting local community events that have previously been held on Saturdays. Our manager at Tops Lymington All Saints, Laura Doe, was born and raised in the area, attending Lymington Infant and Junior schools before going to Priestlands. Laura is therefore well aware of the closeness of the community spirit in the area and will always hold this as a priority when choosing her activities in the nursery.”
When asked about neighbours concerns regarding traffic and noise pollution, Cheryl replied, “We do not require our parents to book either all day, morning or afternoon sessions which is the cause of a large number of parents arriving or leaving at the same time. Instead they can book to the nearest 15 minutes for the hours they need, so there is likely to be staggered arrival and leaving times during the hours of 7am – 7pm; the hours we are proposing to be open. We have not yet had a complaint from our neighbours in our other nurseries in 26 years and this is something we are keen to uphold. Careful consideration is ongoing as to play areas for the children and all our plans have been approved by Ofsted, who visited the nursery on 21st April 2016.”
Cheryl concludes, “We fully appreciate that the change has been faced with some resistance, but I would like to reassure the Lymington residents that we are keen to work with them, not against them, in bringing a welcoming, flexible childcare facility, as well as job opportunities, to the local people.” 
Tops Lymington All Saints will be holding an Open Day at the All Saints Church Hall on Saturday 6th August for parents to meet the Tops team, to discuss arrangements for the nursery and be given the opportunity to view the setting. 
