In my job as assistant head of school, I am lucky enough to work closely with young people. I love my job, I get to know about the latest fashion trends, songs and popular slang words.
This year, I am in charge of year 9 students and these past two months since I have started caring for them have shown that Covid has left a dreadful impact on these young people's mental health. This year, I am seeing more depressed youths. When I talk to them to try and find why they are like this, one thing emerges. This is the fact that they were cut off from their friends at the beginning of the pandemic when schools closed abruptly at the beginning of March 2020. Many have been complaining of loneliness, others say that they have developed OCD conditions, still others are despairing that life can ever be the same again. This has caused great anxiety, with these 13 year olds asking me whether they will ever get to enjoy their youth without any restrictions whatsoever.
Students' mental health and well-being are very important as they also impact the students academic performance. I am grateful that I am being supported all around, I have had meetings with parents, and students are being looked after by guidance teachers. Next week, class interventions will be done in those classes which have the most number of depressed and anxious students. These interventions have been timed to happen before schools break up for the Christmas recess, to help cushion the effect that students might have if they are at home alone during the holidays. This is one small step in my journey with this cohort of students - as a school we care for their holistic development and that with time, slowly but surely, they will feel better,
