Cornavirus Kent: Video Time to Come in Bear explains social distancing to children

by Lauren Abbott

labbott@thekmgroup.co.uk

Despite being home-schooled the majority of children in Kent are now preparing to down tools for two weeks.

Ahead of the end of term break, senior reporter Lauren Abbott shares a video for children designed to help them understand social distancing and why it's important...

This year's Easter holidays suddenly look very different to last year's

School's out for Easter. I'm not sure yet whether that thought fills me with delight or dread?

And yes - as the teacher in charge - I gave the pupils and staff an end of term early finish.

Pinning the kids down to finish their last few tasks has been almost impossible. Whether that's because they sense holidays on the horizon, and my pair's lack of concentration is what every teacher is subjected to on a last day of term, or the reality of home school is kicking in as the novelty wears off, I'm not quite sure. Although if it's the latter, it probably doesn't bode well for restarting in a fortnight.

But for now we are parking English and maths.

This meme about home schooling and the end of term is doing the rounds on social media this week

With time away from the house limited to one trip for exercise a day, I'm not convinced the break from the routine of home schooling and having something structured to do is going to be as welcome as Oscar and Liv think it is. A rough weekday timetable with specific school work to complete has worked well for us and definitely made us all appreciate the downtime of weekends more, just as we ordinarily would.

Within a week is it going to feel like that strange period between Christmas and New Year when no one can remember what day it is?

I think Liv in particular, who is just six, is also finding it hard to understand (or just doesn't necessarily remember sometimes) why we can't simply extend her scooter ride to include a stop at the park or playground we pass and why we can't cross the road to speak to someone we know to chat on the other side. I wonder if that harsh reality is really going to hit home when she has more hours of her day to fill.

Her class teacher sent her and her classmates the video below to watch. It's called 'Time to Come in, Bear' and if you've got young children who need occasional reminders about why social distancing is so important, this story might help...