Covid: Bedford school head rejects 'lost generation' label

Pupils celebrated World Book Day in March 2020 and the school is preparing online classes to mark this year's event on 4 March

A head teacher has rejected suggestions that children have become a "lost generation" due to home-schooling during the pandemic.

Ruth Wilkes, principal at Castle Newnham Federation in Bedford, said in an email to parents that they were "the crucial generation".

During the lockdowns, pupils will have "built resilience and an awareness of the fragility of our world", she said.

One parent said "it makes you feel like everything is going to be OK".

Ruth Wilkes said a school's role was to "create balance" for its pupils

Mrs Wilkes said: "I strongly believe that this is not going to be a 'lost generation' of children whose life chances have been irreversibly impacted upon by a world pandemic, as sections of the media and some politicians would have it.

"This is a generation of children who, through this collective human experience, will have built resilience, self-reliance and an awareness of the fragility of our world, which will serve them well as they continue to be educated and to make their way through life."

They were the "crucial generation" who were needed to help the world recover from the pandemic and tackle issues such as climate change and global inequality, she said.

The school has regularly kept parents and pupil up to date during the lockdowns sharing positive messages

Olivia Fisher, whose three children attend the state school for four to 16-year-olds, said: "It was a beautifully written email, I was in tears reading it.

"Mrs Wilkes just gets it and makes us all feel like everything is going to be OK."

Ellie Collins, another parent, said: "I feel very blessed that my two children go to such a wonderful school that has been amazing over the last year."

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Mrs Wilkes said children would "bounce back" and "the curriculum can be caught up".

The state school is for children aged four to 16 and it has sites on Goldington Road and Newnham Avenue which have remained open for children of key workers