Loreto House on Middleton Row will conduct motivational and counselling sessions for students of Classes VI to XII to help them open up to their teachers and share what is troubling them during the lockdown.

The sessions will be held from the first week of May and each class will have two sessions a week.

The principal, a counsellor and a senior coordinator will conduct the sessions. The teachers will address the students and also show them motivational videos.

“The idea is to give our girls a sense of security and support. Since they cannot reach out to us, we thought of reaching out to them. They might not always be able to open up but it is to reassure them that the lines of communication are open,” said Aruna Gomes, the principal of the school.

The students can also send messages to the teachers, sharing their worries.

Often during regular school days, students come and share their problems with teachers, not always with their class teacher or subject teacher but maybe a primary school teacher, which is not happening now.

“The children are all confined to their homes and not everyone has sprawling homes. They might be feeling stressed and that is what made us think of this,” Gomes said.

Psychiatrist Jai Ranjan Ram said it was a welcome and positive move.

“It will help recreate virtual classes and give children an opportunity to re-establish some kind of social contact, which is not possible because of social distancing. Interacting in a group and sharing a light moment can also work as a huge morale-booster,” Ram said.

The school has started inter-house activities every Saturday to help children relax and give them something beyond academics.

The activities — story-writing, photography, composing a song or making a mask — are being coordinated by the house captains, under the supervision of teachers.

“We announce the activities in advance and the house captains share it in their respective WhatsApp groups. There is a huge response and sometimes we have to limit entries,” said Ananya Saraf, the head girl.

The events are judged by the teachers or even by guests. “Usually, we have our activities in April, May and June and students wait for these all year. We wanted to keep the house spirit alive even during the lockdown and so included events that could be done online,” Ananya said.