I didn’t think there were things that I’d miss about school before. I didn’t think about it much.
MCP, aged 13
As the world changed rapidly around us all, we made it our priority to ensure children’s voices were captured and shared, so that their experiences could be included in policy and practice development.
How are you doing?
Our national wellbeing survey tracked children’s experience of the pandemic since April 2020. A final report, produced with support from colleagues in Public Health Scotland, compares results from the period of April/May/June 2020 with results from a further survey conducted in September/early October 2020.
We created a downloadable PDF, which outlined how practitioners and policy makers could use what children told us about their experience of Coronavirus and lockdown.
Created with our Members of Children’s Parliament, the Corona Times Journal helped adults to understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on children’s lives. Read more from our MCP journalists by following the links below.
Click to view: Corona Times Journal, Edition 6, 30th September 2020: Emerging from lockdown and back to school
Click to view: Corona Times Journal, Edition 4, 11th June 2020: Easing lockdown and thinking about recovery
Click to view: Corona Times Journal, Edition 3, 25th May 2020: Learning at home and the return to school
Click to view: Corona Times Journal, Edition 2, 14th May 2020: Health and wellbeing including sleep, food, being active, feelings and relationships
Click to view: Corona Times Journal, Edition 1, 30th April 2020: Coming to terms with lockdown
These are the stories of 15 families, told to Children’s Parliament to record and reflect on how families with children under the age of 8 experienced the pandemic. Find the stories on our 15Stories site.
Back to School was designed to support conversations between children, and between children and adults in school, giving time and space to pause, reflect and then recover. Back to School is a resource for educators working with children in P5 to S2, it supports schools to take a rights-based approach to supporting children’s return to school.
During the Coronavirus pandemic, all of our lives underwent a degree of turmoil. While mindful of how resilient children can be, we must also remember that trauma is rooted in disempowerment and disconnection (Herman, 1992) and that both of these were significant features of national and regional lockdowns. Back to School supports children’s recovery as they return to school.
Visit: backtoschool.scot/
Resource Development
Back to School was developed by Children’s Parliament with support from school staff in Aberdeen, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, and the Scottish Borders.
Back to School is complemented by an activity pack for children called Adventures in Wellbeing. Designed with and for children, Adventures in Wellbeing is a resource full of ideas and activities to support children’s wellbeing in the days, weeks and months after they return to school.
In March 2020, Children’s Parliament was working closely with 127 children across our programmes and consultations.
While moving to digital responses, we recognised that our MCPs might benefit from physical activities for their life in early lockdown. Children’s Parliament created the Adventures at home activity pack. Each pack included creative activities, materials and stories from our staff team.