This article is a reflective piece. It asks questions to support discussions in staffrooms and team meetings about what a 'new normal' could look like in schools. The author advocates a better partnership between teachers, students and parents in which they adopt a more equitable relationship built on mutual respect and trust - a partnership where they really examine what 'good' learning looks like. The author would like readers to consider the harm done by current derisive discourses around 'lazy teachers' and 'incompetent parents'. The widespread and overwhelmingly negative attitude to children being at home for this extended period and the assumptions about the 'damage' it has done to children and young people are not conducive to building positive, healthy partnerships. The author writes as an educator and as a parent, drawing on her experiences of school closure during the current pandemic.