2020 has presented our community with many challenges that have forced us to adapt to our environment in order to prepare our children better for the future.

School cancellations, at-home learning, reduction of co-curricular activities are possibly the most important part of the child’s growth.

Children not being able to see and interact with their friends has been hampered for an entire year, forcing them to be inside only able to communicate with their friends through a screen throughout the day.

This limited interaction has been devastating for not just their social development but their emotional and physical, with children requiring between 40 minutes to 2 hours of physical exercise per day.

Student involvement in physical activity also stimulates the brain and allows it to form more neural pathways which are reflected in the classroom.

Schools located in the northern part of Queensland have reported a peak in children’s focus when the Queensland School Sport program is a part of the curriculum.

Physical activity is not just important for the children’s cardiovascular health or cognitive development but helps in building the child’s relationship with the fellow students and teachers around them.

This is evident when it comes to team based activities where the teacher’s aim is to help students build rapport and confidence in the classroom community.

COVID-19 as a result has stunted this all important growth listed above and as teachers and parents, it is up to us in making sure that our children’s future is not compromised.

Online learning has been an absolute lifeline for families in the past year, but it is important to keep in mind that an education system like that can never fully replace the physical and social development children must go through into their early teens.

Entering a new year with COVID-19 not looking to go away any time soon, the challenges teachers and parents face must be overcome and adapted too in making sure our child receives the best learning experience possible.

After one year of experiencing remote learning, teachers are now more confident in their own abilities to operate a classroom remotely from home than one year previous.

This adaptation has been born out of necessity, however, it is important to note that these changes in our education system simply cannot fulfill all the needs of a child’s growing body and brain.

This makes it important that our education system of the future takes these needs into account when planning for more remote learning in the future.

It is important, however, to not forget that as parents and teachers our end goals are the same, to give the student the best possible chance of success.

It is therefore up to us and our awareness on what our own children & students want and need in order to achieve the outcome they deserve for the schooling.