My name is Beth and I am in the lower sixth. Breaking up on March 20^th was pretty surreal to be honest. I had prepared myself to finish in July, with my UCAS exams and work experience behind me and a whole summer ahead, but I don’t think this lockdown period has necessarily been a bad thing.


I have managed to keep up with my schoolwork. We are using Microsoft Teams to be able to submit work and receive feedback from teachers and I have found this has worked almost as well as if I was in a normal lesson. I go out for a walk everyday around the fields by my house, and whilst this isn’t very exciting it does make me feel better to be able to leave the house once in a while. This period has also allowed me to get closer with my family because we are all in the house at the same time and not at work or various clubs. We can now sit down and eat together, and watch films, and last weekend we all painted our new extension together, so I do have a newfound appreciation for them. It is also my little brother’s birthday in a few weeks. He is in Year 7 at Vesey and whilst this is going to be a weird experience for us all, hopefully we will have a great day celebrating together with lots of cake and balloons.


For me, the only negative of social isolation so far, has been not seeing my friends every day. I do really miss them and it’s strange not being with them, but we have not let this stop us! Most days we use skype and talk to each other for hours on end; we’ve done workout sessions, played games and even tried out face masks together. Even though I am not seeing them in person, I do feel that in some ways it has brought us closer together because we appreciate each other so much more.


Overall, this whole experience has been odd and completely unprecedented, but I’ve taken the view that we have to make the best of it, because we are all in the same boat. So, let’s stay safe, stay home and keep smiling!