Teachers fear Sunderland classrooms could take a decade to bounce back from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic

Education chiefs at Sunderland City Council have said they owe a “huge debt of gratitude” to schools, following the coronavirus pandemic.

Simon Marshall, the director of education services at Together for Children, which delivers children’s services for the city, noted the period has been a “significant challenge” for teachers.

Speaking at the latest meeting of the local authority’s Children, Education and Skills Scrutiny Committee, he claimed infection rates in primary and secondary schools are “higher now than they’ve ever been”.

He added: “Those challenges are both tiring on children and families, but also on staff and teachers.

“Omicron really has hit schools hard, this last two or three months has probably been the hardest throughout the whole experience, simply because staffing levels are so low at a time where people were already tired anyway.

“School staff as usual have stepped up to the plate, many of them doing many more hours than they should be simply because they’ve done what’s best for the children.”

Speaking at the same meeting, David Airey, headteacher at Venerable Bede CE Academy, in Ryhope, stressed the “massive impact” the pandemic has had on schools.

He said: “The impact on schools is being felt now, especially by children, by parents and by staff.

“You’ve got the perfect storm, parents are frazzled, schools are frazzled and kids are frazzled and teachers are frazzled.

“This is going to be felt for generations to come, it’s going to take a good 10 years to wind itself out of the system.

Cllr Phil Tye said there is a “huge debt of gratitude from the city and its leaders” for what schools and education staff have done since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

He added: “It’s been an absolutely phenomenal task what you have done through Covid, I think people outside of education don’t get that.

“You’ve managed the various different mask processes that we’ve had, you’ve dealt with staff absences, you’ve dealt with managing our community and parents.”

Cllr Karen Noble added it has been “absolutely physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting” for schools.

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