Children will need more than school to ‘bounce back’

RETURNING to school is not enough to restore children’s mental health, researchers have warned.

A study found there was a significant rise in emotional and behavioural issues among primary school children following the first lockdown, and this was even more pronounced for youngsters who were not allowed back in the classroom at all before the summer holidays.

Academics at Essex, Surrey and Birmingham universities found that when children returned to school in September, their well-being levels were higher than they had been in July, but “still much lower than pre-pandemic levels”.

Dr Birgitta Rabe, reader in economics at Essex University’s Institute for Social and Economic Research and one of the paper’s authors, said the research shows that “going back to school in itself does not appear to be sufficient for children to bounce back”.

She added: “Our results suggest the effects of school closures on children’s well-being are large, and they may take some time to mend. Additional support is likely to be required for some time.”

In the study, mothers reported a rise in behavioural and emotional problems during the pandemic, which was equivalent to a 14 per cent jump in the average level of difficulties pre-pandemic.