When we went into lockdown I felt very happy that we had an extra week off school but then I felt scared about school, friends and family. The global pandemic of COVID19 was spreading around the world and people became more nervous about death rates and trying to make supermarkets safe for people to shop for food. I was very sad and lonely in lockdown because I could not see anyone and do anything with family and go to the places because they were all closed.
A few weeks into lockdown it became clear that it was going to be a long space of time doing nothing and being cautious about keeping safe. Also, the streets were very quiet and you could hear all of the birds singing loudly. I loved going to the supermarket. It made me happy being able to see people’s faces and go out of my house for the first time in a long time.
I found online learning fun as it was good to try something new, but it was also sad because you could only see your friends on a screen. At the time, I did not have a phone so I could not communicate with my friends and family. To keep busy, I would go on long cycle rides and cook lots of yummy treats and meals. My two favourite meals that I cooked were the pizzas that I made for DT and my white bread rolls I made with my granny over Facetime. I also loved doing arts and crafts such as writing poems and decorating them. I also made coasters for family and friends.
I felt very happy when lockdown started to ease because I could start to see my family for the first time in two months. I was very happy that I could go back to school and see my friends again. At first going back to school was quite strange because we all had to wash our hands and chromebooks a lot more than usual and we had to stay two metres apart at all times. I had a lot of fun being back with my friends.
Rosie (6R)
Lockdown definitely came as a surprise. I was not expecting it. I had no idea at all what we were going to do and I was quite nervous. I was also scared that the world would now have to quarantine. I didn’t know how we were going to learn. Then I was shown Google Classroom. It seemed confusing at first but after my first lesson I understood. I felt quite lonely and not being able to see my friends was tough but it was lovely to meet them online or send them an email. I felt quite stuck as I was used to doing things freely but now everything was different and restricted with only one hour of exercise and only being able to leave to go and shop for food in the supermarket.
After a few weeks in quarantine I had got the hang of home learning and the new rules but I still felt a bit bored and trapped. To entertain myself, I played board games and baked cakes. We also enjoyed family movie nights and played party games which gave us something to look forward to in the week. I couldn’t see my family and grandparents so it was fun to Facetime them to catch up and to write them letters which they really seemed to like. We saved our exercise until the evening and we went on a walk at night so we could see the sun set over the forest. It was quiet and calm. It felt strange in the supermarket, not being able to just walk in normally and having to do things in a certain way.
When lockdown started to ease and everything was thinking of opening, it was great driving past my favourite shops and seeing opening dates posted on the windows. Then I heard school was opening. I was excited and happy to see the school and my friends but I was nervous and confused as to how it would work. So many ideas and questions were whizzing through my head! It was exciting. I loved reading all the rules and talking to my friends about it. When the day arrived, I couldn’t wait to get there and I got ready super fast. I was very happy that this pandemic was hopefully nearly over…
Overall, it was a relief to be back at school. I managed to get through lockdown and I did not want to go through that again. Spending time with my family and friends got me through this tricky time.
Matilda (6G)
Dear Diary, Monday, 29th June 2020
Today is the one hundredth day of lockdown and I felt like I was going to go crazy going into lockdown one hundred days ago. I thought it was only going to be a couple of weeks but then I heard on the news that the Coronavirus had reached its peak in England and that’s when I knew we would be in lockdown for a long time. Then when the Prime Minister and his colleagues revealed that we could not go outside more than once a day, this is when I realised that COVID-19 was a serious pandemic.
The first couple of weeks in lockdown were fun but then when it progressed, I started to get very bored because it was the same thing everyday and the fact that we could not go out and see our friends just added to the boredom.
When I heard that the lockdown was easing, I was very excited because we could go back to school and see our friends but I was also worried that they were easing it too soon and that a second wave would start to emerge. I was also anxious because there were so many rules, but when I got to school and found out there was no WIFI, I was ecstatic because we didn’t do much work and instead did fun activities.
My overall feeling about lockdown is that it was a scary experience but also quite an exciting experience.
Louis (7G)
Covid-19. It has been a weird experience for me. The world is in a war with the virus and everybody has to help where they can. For me, this was by staying at home and not seeing other people, it doesn’t sound like a lot, but I know it will help lots of people.
Because I’m staying at home, I have to do online school on our chromebooks. We do everything on the chromebook now. We use Google Classroom and sometimes get to have a live lesson which is always much more fun than just a normal one alone. At first I struggled a bit because I wasn’t just able to raise my hand and ask a question, and I had to be independent in my lessons. My family were very lucky though, because we were able to get food when some people couldn’t and we had a garden so we could still be outside.
After a few weeks, we were able to leave the house for exercise so we could go for long walks or bike rides which were really enjoyable and since there were no cars on the roads, our biking was much safer, and I could go for a run instead of just doing laps round the garden. I had finally got the hang of online schooling and was enjoying the fact that we could have some more lessons live. It was also really fun at home because we had lots more time together so we could play board games or something in the garden like croquet (my brother Tom always wins). We also saw on the news that things were slowly improving which was really good, and that hopefully the government would ease the rules soon.
When lockdown started to ease, I was happy because we had more freedom on where we went and we were allowed to go to school for a week. I was so happy and it was nice to have a change of scenery and meet my friends again in person and not over a screen. We had been doing online school for what felt like forever and I was glad that we could have a week where we didn’t have to stare at them for every lesson.
Overall this has been a different experience for me but I haven’t got sick and am lucky to be where I am. However, I am a bit anxious that the country may be opening too quickly because some people aren’t really social distancing themselves and if it gets bad again, we will have to go back into lockdown which will not be good for the country, and I think I will go crazy if I can’t see my friends again!
Tilly (7G)
