Our kids have forgotten how to play while cooped up during lockdown, London head warns

Some young children have forgotten how to play after being kept inside overcrowded homes for most of lockdown, a London headteacher warned today.

Marie Corbett, executive principal of two primary schools in Peckham, said children are arriving back at school withdrawn and quiet and need to learn how to interact with their friends again.

She said parents have been so scared of the virus they have kept children inside, with one boy not leaving his flat for five weeks.

It means children across London have been exposed to adults arguing, domestic violence and in some cases overcrowded and dirty shared bathroom facilities. As a result some children have lost the ability to play or be “silly”, she said.

Ms Corbett said: “Some children were really withdrawn and had forgotten how to play or talk to people. After one week we noticed the children were running around and screaming loudly in a high-pitched way. All of a sudden they remembered how to be a bit silly and like children again. They were going from super-quiet and withdrawn to almost a bit over-excited in their play.

“They were not able to moderate where the middle ground is. They are getting better at it now.”

Only about one third of eligible children have returned to Harris Primary Academy Peckham and Harris Primary Academy Peckham Park, despite most families living in homes without gardens and many in overcrowded or temporary accommodation.

Ms Corbett said: “We have not had as many children come back as we would have liked. During lockdown, when they could only go out once a day, to be confined in really dire circumstances — I really expected more children to come back to school.”

She said this is because parents have been extremely scared about the virus.

Ms Corbett added: “During the period when you could only leave the house once a day, I don’t think the parents were even doing that. They were really worried about the risk. We have experienced children coming back much more withdrawn. Children socially seem to have gone backwards. For reception children, who take time to settle in at school, the teachers are saying it’s like all the work we have done from September to March has gone completely backwards.

“The social skills of the children, the independence and confidence seem to have really deteriorated. They feel more like nursery children.”

Ms Corbett is confident that when children are all back in school in September the damage can start to be reversed.

She said: “By the time the children leave school they have perked up and had a nice time. When it was really hot we put a hosepipe and sprinkler on, and gave them ice lollies. One child said ‘this is the best day I have ever had’.”