In the first lockdown, I felt as though I had been plunged into loneliness. 

I attended key worker school once a week, and ached to see my work friends because I wasn’t allocated the same day as any of them.

Although it was nice to see the same students each week, I left each day feeling that I hadn’t conversed with any adults. That changed when I was paired up with the head of religious studies. We became good friends, and I found myself looking forward to each day at work. I realised just how important work friends are.

Keeping the fires burning

We spend around half of our days at school, every day, for 40 weeks of the year, and it is only natural to forge friendships with the people around you. We trust them, we laugh with them, and we work hard together. Keeping the fire of these friendships burning has been so important over the past 12 months where we have all felt loneliness, anxiety and sadness.

Usually, after a long day, you might head over to the staffroom and rant to someone, but instead we have had to be clever in the way we keep that communication going - going for walks, group chats on WhatsApp, using Twitter and so on - but not having those elements has taken a big toll on our mental health. 

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The significance of those friendships is even greater now that we are back. There’s no doubt that school is going to be tough over the next few months: dealing with staff and student anxieties, readjusting body clocks, and worrying about how assessments will work.

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Looking after our wellbeing is going to be just as crucial now as it was over lockdown, and this is where your work friends are imperative. Here are three suggestions for nurturing those friendships now that we are back to work:

1. Mid-week walks  

Restaurants and pubs are still closed, but the weather is becoming milder, so make the most of an early evening walk with a work friend. Exercise makes us feel better, and putting the world to rights with a trusted friend will definitely release some stress. It’s also really important to ensure that you have one night off work (at least) a week, so why not combine the two?

2. Checking in

The next few months are going to be tough. We will be spending a lot of time nurturing our students and cheerleading them, but this means it is really important not to forget about looking after your work friends. Make sure to send a check-in text when you haven’t heard from them in a while. They might need you to reach out to them.

3. Baking and brews

In true British fashion, when all seems tough, make a brew. Taking your work friend a cuppa and a cake is not only an excuse to speak to them face-to-face, but also a chance to look after them. I received a Krispy Kreme last week and I cannot tell you how much that meant to me.

Friendships are the true crutch of wellbeing, so let’s look after them and keep those fires burning. We’re all going to need our friends over the next few months.

Shabnam Ahmed is head of Year 13 at a secondary school in Suffolk