For most UK children it has been over 5 months since they were last in school. For the vast majority of children and families, returning to school over the next week or two is likely to be a positive experience; an opportunity to reconnect with their peers and feel a sense of routine and normality after what has been a turbulent few months. We must not forget though, that returning to school will represent a significant transition after 5 months at home. For the majority of children we are likely to see a slight rise in anxiety in the days leading up to restarting school and over those first few days of school, which will settle relatively quickly.

Schools and policy makers can help families in a number of ways. First, by doing what they can to reduce uncertainty about what school will be like; when we feel uncertain, we also feel more anxious and worried so reducing uncertainty should help to reduce both parent and child anxiety around the return to school. Second, by reducing pressure to ‘catch up’; whilst children are adjusting to being back in school, opportunities to play, socialise and to re-establish friendships need to be prioritised to support children’s mental health.

We know that children and young people will look to the adults around them for information on how to respond during this transition period. This means that if parents and teachers are comfortable with the return to school, then young people are likely to feel more confident themselves. The good news is that data from the Co-SPACE study¹ tells us that the majority of parents are feeling comfortable about their child returning to school. Importantly however, around 10% of parents taking part in the Co-SPACE study reported that they are not feeling at all comfortable. Parents of children with special educational needs and/or neurodevelopmental disorders were particularly likely to report that they were uncomfortable about their child returning to school. They report that they are worried their child will not get the emotional, behavioural and educational support that they need. These are important and understandable concerns. Schools and services need to be resourced to offer these families the support they need as well as some certainty about what support will look like when their child returns to school.

A final consideration is that, for a range of reasons including anxiety around social situations or separation, some children find attending school challenging. Support for many of these will have stopped or been postponed due to Covid-19 and the return to school may be particularly challenging for them. Individual transition plans and additional funding to support schools and mental health professionals may be required to support some of these children to return to school.

¹ See: http://co-space.minervation.com/

Helen Dodd is a Professor of Child Psychology in the Anxiety and Depression in Young People (ANDY) research unit at the University of Reading.

For more on health anxiety in children and young people in the context of Covid-19, read for free this recently published article in Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy here.

Further additional resources related to Covid-19 are available for free from the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist here.