Schools North East has joined forces with charities Children North East and the North East Child Poverty Commission to call on regional MPs to ensure ‘that the North East’s children and young people do not become the forgotten victims’ of the coronavirus pandemic.
Together, we have produced an open letter to the region’s MPs asking them to press for more
support for disadvantaged children in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The briefing which has been sent to MPs outlines the context of the North East, and the implications of coronavirus for disadvantaged children and young people.
The North East was already an area with high levels of deprivation and existing inequalities are rising due to coronavirus, which has resulted in cuts to wages and job losses for many families. As well as being a region with some of the highest pre existing levels of disadvantage, recent reports have shown that the North East has the highest coronavirus infection rate. This means that any effects of the pandemic are likely to be felt even more so in our region.
The briefing document points specifically to the impact of the situation on our young people, including the ‘learning loss’ children will face as they have remained at home, while schools have formed part of the emergency response to the crisis. Equally, the economic impact means many children will be pushed into further poverty, or those who were not previously considered to be disadvantaged, may now require extra support. Schools have been working tirelessly to ensure their students who need it are receiving food vouchers or packages, with many extending this support to whole families and local communities, however the impact of the crisis on wages and jobs means this will be an ongoing issue for many families well after the current crisis has subsided..
In addition, all of this, combined with the effects of lockdown, will have real impacts for our children’s mental health and wellbeing. Many children will be unused to the structure of school after lockdown, and some may suffer from increased stress and anxiety. More serious issues include increased levels of domestic abuse, and many children will be dealing with bereavement under stressful circumstances.
Our call to MPs is to highlight these issues, and call for their support in ensuring that the response to the crisis includes ‘significant, additional and targeted resources’ to combat the growing disadvantage and to ensure our schools are equipped to deal with the additional and unique challenges they will face.
We are also urging MPs to focus on addressing the long term underlying economic issues which have been exacerbated by the current situation.
The concerns we have so far identified will require new approaches and new thinking, which could influence the shape of the education system for years to come. The key recommendations in our Manifesto for North East Education, published in December, are now more relevant than ever. Policy must be based on evidence, understanding of regional context, and provide specialist, bespoke support for our schools.
