Headteacher warns of 'mental health crisis' in pupils if school budgets aren't boosted by government

Worried Howard Payne, who is in charge of Wymering’s Medina Primary School, feared staff nationwide will be overwhelmed by a surge of ‘worried and anxious’ children.

Mr Payne was speaking out yesterday as he outlined his school’s plan to protect pupils returning to lessons after 10 weeks in lockdown.

About 20 children of the school’s 210 pupils returned to Medina yesterday. Mr Payne refused to open up the site to all Year R, 1 and 6 children, as the government had suggested last month, instead favouring a later phased introduction, to give his staff more time to prepare.

And the headteacher said some of the new arrivals had been left distressed by the lockdown and were fearful to return to class.

Asked whether he feared for the mental health of pupils, Mr Payne said: ‘Yes, definitely. Without a doubt this will have an impact on their mental health further down the line but we won’t know that for months and months...Some of the children have shown today they’re anxious and worried about returning to school.’

Mr Payne warned school nurses were already ‘getting ready’ for an influx of ‘real issues’ from September.

Likewise, he said pastoral teams, in charge of providing welfare support to youngsters, had ‘already seen’ a surge in requests for help by ‘worried parents’.

But as schools continue to face huge pressures on their budgets, Mr Payne feared these critical roles could be put at risk if the government didn’t act now and step up funding.

‘Unless the government comes back with more financial support for schools there will have to be financial cuts and cuts to staff,’ he added.

The situation has worried children’s charity YoungMinds. In a survey by the organisation of 2,111 youngsters, the charity found 83 per cent said the pandemic had made their mental health worse, with almost a third saying it was ‘much worse’.

Tom Madders, director of campaigns at YoungMinds, said ‘many’ children had ‘struggled’ in lockdown and called on Whitehall to support schools.

He added: ‘For some children, the transition back to school will be hard, and it’s crucial that there is space for them to talk about how they’re feeling, and not simply a rush to catch up on the curriculum.’

So far only two of Medina’s seven classrooms are being used by children of key workers.

Social distancing is strictly enforced, with classrooms limited to ‘bubbles’ of about 10 children.

Among those youngsters returning to Medina for the first time yesterday included siblings Bonnie Jackson, seven, Max Royce, nine, and Lexie Harding, five.

Bonnie said she was worried and added: ‘It feels scary and weird being back because you could get germs and you have to be two metres apart from each other.’

Their dad Ricky Harding, 28, is part of the recruitment team at Queen Alexandra Hospital helping to hire more doctors and nurses, and said his children had been apprehensive about returning.

He added: ‘I was really unsure about bringing children back. I thought this whole year would just be scrapped and it would start again in September, which would have been realistic.’

Other measures at the school include mandatory hand-washing coming in and out of the building, revamped toilet areas.

Parents are separated when picking up their children and urged not to enter the school grounds where possible.

Meanwhile, the school has pumped in about £2,000 from its already-stretched budgets to pay for more cleaners and cleaning materials, while staff have been pitching in over the weekend to help.

More pupils in Year 6 are expected to return on June 15, with others from Years R and 1 following soon after,

Children will also be given a brief tour of the school to help them see how things have changed, Mr Payne said.