I've had numerous dialogues with colleagues over the last couple of weeks about the current lockdown. No surprise there - it's the hottest topic of conversation in the profession at the moment. Whilst the leadership from the top (the Cabinet, the DfE, etc.) has quite rightly beed derided, there has been a quiet and determined revolution happening in schools - sustained as ever by dedicated and talented teachers and school leaders.

In the space of 24 hours, schools went from planning for a relatively normal Spring Term curriculum to having to design and implement a robust curriculum that has met the needs of those pupils working from home, whilst simultaneously implementing a face to face curriculum for the children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable. This has been a gargantuan effort, and reflects an unprecedented level of change management by colleagues in our schools. I know that many colleagues were preparing for this scenario during the Autumn Term, anticipating the almost inevitable second wave. Even so, this preparation was tested on small levels, by individuals, and most importantly whilst teaching children in a Covid-secure manner. Therefore it was largely untested at 8.15pm on Monday 4th January 2021 as Boris made his announcement to the nation, and the time available to train staff and enable them to prepare for effective deployment was minimal by normal standards.

Still, in three weeks colleagues have mobilised a new system of educating pupils, with no national training programme, no national consultation, and no national clarity. They have done this in a febrile atmosphere of national expectations, not least from our political masters, and relentless critique from non-expert assessors. My experiences in speaking with colleagues in schools all across England shows the following sequence:

• expectations for engagement were agreed swiflty and communicated to staff and parents  quickly and effectively.
• teachers very quickly adapted lessons and resources to be placed onto the chosen platforms to allow remote access (almost exclusively within 24 hours), so that there was continuity of learning in the first week, and minimal disruption.
• leaders evaluated the provision collaboratively with staff during the first week and sought to identify how to strengthen their offer.
• leaders evaluated the engagement of pupils with teachers and enabled conversations to happen focussed on strategies to improve engagement.
• during the second week, actions from the evaluations in week 1 were implemented, trialled and further refined.
• in that week, teachers communicated regularly to plan for rolling out live learning, and rehearsed sessions - both to consider the pedagogy and to check that the hardware / software worked appropriately, and still actively planned and delivered remote and face to face learning.
• staff reflected on the balance between live lesson input, remote learning expectations and began to understand the pressures being faced by parents at home trying to engage their children in the learning, and adapted provision for the third week.
• during the third week leaders continued to evaluate the effectiveness of systems, the platforms, and the expectations on pupils, whilst increasing the balance of live learning and remote learning for those at home, and continuing to provide the face to face learning for those in school.

We tend to think of change cycles lasting anything from a half term upwards, depending on the complexity of the change. We are in the middle of the most complex change imagineable, and the change cycle is measured in days and weeks. Therefore, whatever you have been doing is brilliant. Is it exactly as you would want it to be if it was running perfectly? I doubt it. However, you have been refining it on a daily basis. You have approached the change with the most open of mindsets, despite some challenging protagonists. You have made your decisions based on principles, and your very best imagining of how to implement them. You have been prepared to accept that it isn't always going to go as you wanted it to, and have picked yourself up, dusted yourself off and gone at it again the next day with gusto. You have supported dozens of anxious pupils and their parents with care and compassion, whilst remaining focussed on the need for limiting the impact of this lock down on the learning of those in your care both academically and emotionally.

There may have been some doubters out there - and many of them have loud voices in the media. However, I salute you. I would want you to recognise that in the last three weeks you have been the very best version of yourselves, and that whatever you have done you have done it to the very best of your abilities. I want you to stand tall and confident and to be able to at least ignore those who have questioned your commitment. You will never have to go through a change cycle like this again in your career, and you will be stronger for it - if you can find the resolve to see your way through it.

#thankyouschools

#thankyouteachers