Education leaders in Suffolk have hailed the efforts of parents teaching their children during the coronavirus lockdown, and urged them not to feel guilty if they have struggled.

Many parents in the Felixstowe area have effectively had to juggle becoming home tutors for their children while working from home or caring for loved ones since lockdown began in March.

Felixstowe pupils have been studying reportedly with work set by schools but many parents have had to be teachers, with varying degrees of success.

One parent, Amanda Moore. who has a child at Suffolk One and another in Year 7 at Holbrook Academy, admitted it had been a challenge. 

"Juggling working from home and encouraging/supporting home schooling is a challenging task, with varying degrees of success depending on the day but we all know the reasons and are supportive of them," said Mrs Moore. "I think it's fair to say that I wasn't born to be a teacher but, like lots of parents, we're just doing what we can.

"Both Suffolk One & Holbrook Academy have been communicating regularly, which is great.

"Both have issued home learning via virtual platforms and are doing as much as they can to support; bearing in mind that most of the teachers also have children and family members to care for and the school is still required to operate a daily programme for key workers and vulnerable children.

"It's a massive ask and it's such a shift from everything that has gone before." 

The Suffolk branch of the National Education Union said it was talking to the government on what a return to school could look like – including on whether Years 10 and 12 should be prioritised – but urged parents to be proud of any education they have been able to give during lockdown.

NEU spokesman for Suffolk, Graham White, said: "It is certainly true that pupils at home are getting a less satisfactory academic education overall and are losing out on the social and emotional education.

"Some pupils inevitably are not getting as rigorous an overall education at home than they would get at school. The divide between the most able and least able is going to be magnified as a result of Covid-19.

"The priority once the rules are relaxed is to get the most vulnerable back into school and to assist those who have had the least education at home.

"We must not and should not blame parents for the lack of rigour in home education.

"The union has not proposed any plans for Y10/Y12 but it would make sense to give this year group as much time as possible to help them prepare for their exams in 2021. We need to ensure the safety of pupils at all times be it at home or in school.

"We need to see the Government's modelling and assumptions first then see the proposals on return. Once we have seen these we can evaluate the effectiveness of any such proposals. It is unrealistic to see a full return soon but a phased return at some point in the future would seem a pragmatic approach.

"My message to parents is stay safe, do the best you can for your children, do the best you can for their education but do not feel guilty and anything you can do to enhance their education and life skills is very beneficial. Engaging with your children's learning be it education, sport, social interaction, pursuit of interests or just helping around the home and garden will all help them."

Secondary schools have said that online learning programmes have been invaluable in keeping students focused on the curriculum they were already studying.

Information was also being sent to parents and youngsters due to start at the school this September to help them with the transition, and hoped to be able to bring them in for an induction day before the new school year.