Leukaemia, lockdown and learning…
Vicky Newman, whose daughter Alexandra has leukaemia, writes on how lockdown actually helped to reduce gaps in Alex’s education and the isolation she had felt previously when away from school.
When Alexandra was diagnosed in June 2019 the last thing on our minds was school and her education. Our world had stopped, and learning seemed so small and unimportant.
That began to change as Alex moved further through treatment and we adjusted to that “new normal” everyone tells you about when your child’s just been diagnosed. As Year 9 began in September, we were aware that some GCSE content would begin and the reality of how far away her end of treatment was hit home.
Alex’s head of year had kept in contact with us from the beginning and she acted as our go-between with her teachers. Unfortunately, there was no consistency and it became frustrating. Sometimes, there were project booklets Alex was asked to work through over several weeks or sometimes a video, while there were many times the homework assigned simply said “complete the sheet from class”. Sometimes, there was no work at all. I want to make it clear here, her school and the staff have been incredibly supportive; the problem has never been the school, it’s that there simply isn’t a system in place to support children like Alex.
The thing about school is, it’s not just about learning, it’s the biggest piece of a child’s social circle, their membership to the gang. The longer Alex wasn’t there, the further she felt from her friends. They’ve all been fantastic, keeping in constant contact, but the common ground through work and events slipped away. She was recently asked to describe her cancer treatment experience in one word - she chose “isolating”.
Even when she was able to return to school, she couldn’t manage full time because of appointments or being unwell due to side effects from her treatment. Then lockdown happened.
At first, she was upset and frustrated, but it quickly became a blessing in disguise. As her school rolled out their virtual learning programme, everything she’d been missing was suddenly accessible to her. She could fully participate in and learn from every lesson, she could interact with her peers through the virtual classroom, there were even radio style performances in groups for drama. When she wasn’t feeling 100% after treatment, she could still be present and rest on the sofa at the same time. She thrived through it all. Many of her friends struggled with being cooped up and found themselves lacking the motivation to study and she was able to help and encourage them and in turn she thinks it has helped them understand some of what she’s been through.
How wonderful would it be for any lockdown resources to be pooled together to help children like Alex in the future? To develop a system that all schools across the country follow when a child is unable to attend school full time due to illness or other reasons? Learning from lockdown and adding a virtual element would go so far to help with a sense of inclusion and being part of the class. For these children, already fighting through so much, it seems unfair to add education to their battle.
Alex’s treatment ends on 24 September, two months before she turns 16. Currently in Year 10, she’s worked so hard to piece together bits of the curriculum and catch up, but there are still many gaps left to fill. We’re now looking at hiring a tutor to work with her one-to-one to help prepare for her GCSEs next year.
