The impact on school closures on attendance
It is obvious that if children are not at school their education suffers. In 2021/22, 22.5% of pupils were recorded as “persistently absent” according to the UK Department of Education 1.7m children, of whom fewer than 3 percent actually had Covid.
By 9th March 2022 the BBC reported that almost two million pupils were regularly missing school. And still are (2024) – the percentage of pupils missing school has nearly doubled since pre school closures.
And the reasons?
Many parents and children believe that Lockdowns and school closures showed that the government believed that school was not essential. Before Covid, school attendance was understood to be so crucially important for children’s welfare that high absence figures could cause schools to fail Ofsted inspections.
Schools rang homes, visited parents, sent letters, reported absences, then, in an overnight reversal of years of public policy, we were told that it was fine – in fact preferable – for children to stop going to school. During the pandemic, powerful messaging from the Government, teaching unions and health bodies, shattered the social contract between schools, parents and teachers
Lockdown did indeed break the social contract between schools, parents and teachers
Polling has found that more than a quarter of parents believe the pandemic showed it was not essential for children to attend school daily.
As the Telegraph says, in the first of two powerful articles available here and here, the only way to end the truancy epidemic is to concede that shutting children out of the classroom was a terrible mistake- A public mea culpa should precede a serious and comprehensive effort to right these wrongs and restore our collective faith in education. we need those in authority to admit that it was the wrong decision to close schools, that the evidence did not require it, that it damaged our children – many of them irreparably. It is obvious that if children are not at school education attainment falls.Schools were closed longer in the UK than almost anywhere else
And an increasing number of parents are turning to Home Schooling-of course hugely unpopular intrusion into parent roles by schools around the teaching of RSE has only accelerated this trend.
According to the government, the number of children in England being home educated increased by more than 10,000 last autumn to 92,000.
It is ,of course, obvious that if children are not at school, their education suffers and these
losses continued to be reported on by official bodies.
Educational and Developmental decline.
The fall in the performance of UK schools measured by international academic tables is a “shocking indictment of the way education was sacrificed” during the Covid pandemic. The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) has registered a sharp decline in this country, wiping out years of gradual improvement.
The Pisa tests compare educational attainment among 15-year-olds around the world and show UK schoolchildren achieved their lowest scores in mathematics and science since 2006 – the first year of comparable data. Reading results were also down, close to the previous minimum in 2009.
The decline was especially marked in Wales and Scotland, with England faring better.
Anne Longfield, the former children’s commissioner, told the Covid Inquiry that closing schools had been “a terrible mistake”. The Pisa tests show how right she was. This is the real legacy of Covid lockdowns.
The Guardian recently reported (28/02/2024) what was reported originally in 2021:
“One in four children starting school in England and Wales are not toilet-trained, The early-years charity, Kindred2 reported ,with nearly half (46%) of pupils are unable to sit still, 38% struggle to play or share with others, more than a third (37%) cannot dress themselves, 29% cannot eat or drink independently and more than a quarter (28%) are using books incorrectly, swiping or tapping as though they were using a tablet”
But in October 2021 by Professor Hill and Dr Goldin, child consultant psychiatrists at Great Ormond Street Hospital, had reported that:
“Children are starting schools with the social and educational skills of a child two years younger”
And the loss continued, as reported again in 2022, pupils from poorer backgrounds in Wales are about two years behind their peers, according to new analysis. By the time they sit their GCSEs, poorer pupils are on average 22 to 23 months behind, with those identified as long-term poor up to 29 months behind
In May 2022 research by the Education Endowment Foundation and published in the Guardian showed that children in this age group were starting school far behind, biting and hitting, overwhelmed around large groups of other children and unable to settle and learn
All the way through 2022 evidence emerged
In the Spring of 2022 Ofsted report had highlighted the damaging effects of the restrictions on the development of young children. The report should have been enough to set alarm bells ringing.
- delays in babies’ physical development
- a generation of babies struggling to crawl and communicate
- regression in children’s independence eg unable to toilet independently
- delays in speech and language
The report also highlights the ongoing negative impact of face masks on young children’s language and communication skills.
It is well known that young children who have communication problems can fail to to reach their full potential, so it is lasting damage.
And In figures– The HART group reports an almost 20-point drop in what is roughly equivalent to IQ, for children aged 3 months – 3 years.
And the learning and developmental issues continue as children get older. The research by the National Foundation for Educational Research in March 2022, shows that the negative impact on reading progress was greatest among 4 and 5 year olds and this is of “particular concern as early reading plays a key part in children’s later achievement”.
The Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities Study (Cosmo) in October 2022 looking into the impact of the pandemic on young people’s life chances, led jointly by University College London and the Sutton Trust found that
Four out of five teenagers say their academic progress has suffered as a result of the pandemic, Half of the 16- and 17-year-olds said the Covid disruption had left them less motivated to study, while 45% felt they have not been able to catch up with lost learning. Two-thirds (64%) said their education plans had changed as a result the pandemic,
Professor Hill presents a very succinct timeline of the damages through the ages here
As mentioned earlier UK pupils’ science and maths scores lowest since 2006 in international tests.
Similar finding are reported elsewhere.
In the US school closures affected an estimated 24.2 million U.S. schoolchildren and the education drop is the same there particularly clear, according to the latest assessments from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) -performance saw its steepest decline since tests began, around 50%, the Secretary of State characterised the results as appalling, characterised as America’s catastrophic learning loss.
And the rest of the world too –UNESCO reported that “The quantity of education lost is momentous. At its peak school closures affected 1.6 billion children in 188 countries” The report issued in 2021 by UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank revealingly titled the “State of the Global education Crisis”, is particularly damning.
The full story of the harms to children may be found in this series of articles published by UK Column and available HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
Now let us turn to mental health
We denied our young people all the activities which help their mental health-we closed schools, isolated them, banned sport, travel, parties, plays, church. Locked them in their bedrooms, what did we expect to happen.
It is not as if the authorities had not been warned-though common sense should have been enough.
100 leading Child psychologists had highlighted the mental health risks to children due to lockdowns, describing it as a “national disaster” Professor Ellen Townsend highlights the “rising anxiety and loneliness” Suicide is already the leading cause of death in 5-19 year olds. (in N.I the suicide rate for young people is twice that of England)
In February this year the Times Educational Supplement (08/02/2024) reported a “huge rise in pupil mental health emergencies”, the article goes on the report that headteachers are warning that schools were being left to deal with a “tsunami of pressures” affecting pupil wellbeing, following the pandemic.
Data analysed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists shows a 53 per cent rise over three years in referrals to child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) crisis teams in England.
The NHS has reported that 1 IN 5 children had a mental disorder in 2023 with nearly 1 million awaiting appointments according to the Children’s Commissioner rising to 1.5m in 2024 with huge rises in mental health related issues such as disabling Tic disorders, self harm and eating disorders.
Whilst the US has seen a 50% increase in admissions to hospitals with attempted suicides.
And Chris Whitty (CMO England) reports that childhood obesity is “significantly worse” as a result of lockdowns.
Record numbers of young people are seeking help for mental health conditions, with 1.4 million in England in 2022 referred to child and adolescent mental health services for treatment of anxiety, depression, eating disorders and other psychological problems.
Last month, the World Bank warned that lockdown disruption to education would scar multiple generations of children who suffered serious developmental and learning delays.
I had previously reported Professor Karl Sikora, the UK’s leading cancer specialist, views stated in 2020 re cancer “50,000 more people could die of cancer”
Gordon Wishart, chief medical officer at Check4Cancer, and visiting professor of cancer surgery at Anglia Ruskin University, had also repeatedly warned in 2020 and 2021 that delaying cancer diagnosis and treatment would lead to deaths, but said his fears were ignored.
And the outcome.
The Telegraph wrote about a
“mysterious new epidemic of abdominal cancers in younger people”. “Models based on global data predict that the number of early-onset cancer cases will increase by around 30% between 2019 and 2030, a markedly faster increase than the previous 30 years.”
Doctors across the world are sounding the alarm over a surging epidemic of young people being diagnosed with cancers since the pandemic with nearly every continent experiencing an increase in various types of cancer in people under 50, Australia having the highest, New Zealand second highest. A weakened immune response has also been noted in people with early-onset tumours. The chart showing this predicted surge in overall cancer rates is shown below.
Professor Dalgleish recently (April 9th 2024) wrote:
“I was so alarmed at the possibility that the vaccine boosters could induce cancer relapse that I alerted everyone concerned, only to be told to prove it or shut up and stop upsetting cancer patients. I then became aware of literally dozens of people who had not had cancer before developing leukaemia and lymphomas after the boosters. Since pointing this out publicly I have been contacted by many physicians and patients from all over the globe saying that they are not only seeing the same phenomenon but also an increase in other cancers especially colorectal, pancreatic, renal and ovarian.”
And In terms of children’s health generally, the number of under-18s waiting for NHS care in England has soared to 423,500, the highest on record.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Government policies caused huge harms, were not risk assessed and the evidence that Covid was not deadly was known at the start. Is no one accountable for ignoring ,the evidence or not knowing the evidence or for the harms their decisions caused? Or is the story more malign?
I can wholly agree with the writer of this opinion piece published in the Telegraph:
“The decision to close schools for so long during the pandemic lockdowns was arguably the worst mistake made during those dark days. The impact on the education and mental wellbeing of a cohort of children in their mid-teens is still being felt”
Though I would say that the worst issue is that the evidence was there at the start AND the authorities knew of it.
Worse still , the evidence that there was a Pandemic at all, much less a deadly one is extremely dubious.
Pandata revisited the pandemic in China. There was no pandemic according to the data.
- no evidence that the Chinese lockdown had any impact on the trajectory of either Covid cases or deaths.
- no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was highly transmissible.
- no evidence that Covid was unusually lethal.
- no evidence that anything significant happened in China as a result of Covid (other than the lockdown itself).
- nothing that can support the WHO’s decision to consider Covid a pandemic.
Even if there was a Pandemic, a well researched and agreed Pandemic Plan was ALREADY in place at the WHO. It contained many evidence-based recommendations, such as
- there was no evidence that face masks are effective in reducing transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza;
- active contact tracing is not recommended in general because there is no obvious rationale for it in most member states;
- home quarantine of exposed individuals to reduce transmission is not recommended because there is no obvious rationale for this measure;
- the quality of the evidence around the effectiveness of school closures is described as “very low”
Why were Lockdowns/School closures even considered? Why are they still part of the dialogue?
Of the countless commentaries and research reports showing Lockdowns did not work, these two aptly sum up the catastrophic wide ranging harms, firstly Professor Jonas Herby et al of the John Hopkins University in January 2022
“The effect (of Lockdowns) on mortality is little to none. […] [L]ockdowns during the initial phase of the COVID–19 pandemic have had devastating effects. They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy. These costs to society must be compared to the benefits. Such a standard benefit-cost calculation leads to a strong conclusion: lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument”
Professor Sikora , a world leading cancer specialist expresses it thus:
“Whether it’s the negative developmental effect on young children, stunning levels of non-Covid excess deaths, a ticking cancer time bomb, waves of mental health issues, the economic ramifications that affect every single one of us, increases in teenage eating disorders, business closures, wasted years – I could go on and on. Millions and millions of lives were disrupted and ruined, including those of the youngest and poorest in our society.”
CONCLUSION
This has indeed become a civil/human rights and freedom and democracy issue.
As Professor Heneghan says”
“The Lockdown files message is clear: we must never again suppress democracy by giving power to power-hungry people.”
It is incredible that the Western democracies removed many of our previously established civil liberties in what was clearly concerted action. The silencing of alternative views continues and we appear to be being dictated to by unelected world organisations commanding the financial support of mega rich individuals. WHO, WEF are two such organisations, it seems that many of our universities and media outlets are funded by the same people. Certainly, the people, finance and philosophy which led to lockdowns are still there and this despite the clearly identified failures of the policies and the harms they caused.
Or is it worse?
Professors Michaela Schippers, John Ioannidis and Matthias Luijks:
“Individuals, groups and even whole societies are sometimes caught up in a Death Spiral, a vicious cycle of self-reinforcing dysfunctional behaviour characterized by continuous flawed decision making, myopic single-minded focus on one (set of) solution(s), denial, distrust, micromanagement, dogmatic thinking and learned helplessness.. Prior research indicates that historically, the key factors trigger this type of societal decline: rising inequalities creating an upper layer of elites and a lower layer of masses, dwindling (access to) resources, government overreach, over-integration (interdependencies in networks) and a rapidly decreasing trust in institutions and resulting collapse of legitimacy.”
Listen to this passionate plea.
Mistakes Were NOT Made: An Anthem for Justice (by Margaret Anna Alice; Read by Dr. Tess Lawrie)
Some 50 published articles and a dozen or so presentations since that first one
“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
About the author: Hugh McCarthy is a retired post primary school Headteacher, having served 23 years in that role. He also lectured in a post graduate leadership course at the University of Ulster. Hugh has served as a director on two of Northern Ireland’s major education councils and currently serves as a ministerial appointment on one. He is a member of PANDA and Collateral Global. Hugh has 50 years of experience in education. https://hughmccarthy.substack.com/
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