College, Corona & me

As we enter a new Academic year in the Loop office, the new members of the team reflect on starting College in the midst of a global pandemic...

Corona is a word many people are probably sick of hearing after 6 months of worry. However now as rules begin to get eased people (especially students) are starting to get back into the loop of normality again. Students are back into the education system and are beginning to remember the format of school and the back pain from holding their bags of work on their shoulders all day. The first two weeks have been old routine students are now starting to rediscover. Over the lockdown period , students got the time they needed the most - time to relax and reflect. With the overwhelming amount of work students were receiving, they needed time to put down their pens and revision guides and get a good night sleep for once. When teachers told year 11s they would get a summer they won’t forget they really were not joking but I am sure now most students wish they could forget it. Personally, my lockdown was a very big positive for 2020. The opportunity to sit back and do nothing was just handed time after years of work and it wasn't something I would brush over. This lockdown period has helped me and many other students rediscover themselves which they lost in their obsessive stacks of revision materials. Despite the well needed and greatly appreciated time was personally needed, I have found going back into the classroom format is something I also needed to get me out of a lazy habit I was starting to develop. The change over from school to college has been a process many thought would be difficult however due to the growing maturity that has flourished during the quarantine period this has made the change something many have not struggled too badly with. Although the change over has been easy, the lack of interaction with peers has made making new friends and classmates a task students have had to put some extra effort into. Even though these changes are new to everyone we are all hoping things go back to normal soon and will make college life easier for students and teachers. - Emily Cuell

For many months before I had even finished school, my ongoing worry for starting college grew bigger and bigger. I had many unanswered questions about college life: what my courses would consist of, whether I would still see my friends or potentially make brand new ones, or if I would find college life way too overwhelming. All these questions swirled around in my head for months, but then Corona hit. The sheer panic and uncertainty took over and suddenly the worry over college soon became a very small problem. Instead now, different questions circled my head. What if a family member falls ill? What if coronavirus stops me from achieving my best?. When will lockdown be over? When will normality hit again? All these worries were all very overwhelming and because of lockdown extending over a period of time that no one was prepared to spend inside, your mind was left to wonder. The sheer boredom caused your mind to never rest and let you very quickly spiral. But almost, very bizarrely, coronavirus made college still enjoyable. My first two weeks at college have been amazing and I couldn’t possibly fault it. I have made new friends and really enjoyed my lessons. College is that new step up and do I believe the step up would have been easier if coronavirus wasn't around? Yes, of course, but college can still be enjoyable even with coronavirus lurking. Change isn’t always easy, it's how you handle it, that's important. - Phoebe Peddle. College commences. Corona continues. Students strive. Two weeks and we’re all adapting, adapting to the unknown, to a new routine, a new lifestyle. I was ready to make the jump over to college - after five years of secondary I felt prepared to face new challenges and to meet new people. However, what I didn’t expect was for the landing to look exactly like this. I know you’re probably thinking the same, in what world would we have expected wearing face masks to become the new normal, constantly sanitizing our hands, wiping keyboards after using them. Crazy right? This was not the start to college that I was picturing a few years back, that any of us were picturing actually. Although after the first couple of weeks I began to settle in, remember to put on my mask when walking through buildings and to use my sleeve to open toilet doors (I know we all do it.) I’ve made a new group of friends and am really enjoying all of my subjects as well as getting used to the campus grounds and where my lessons are. Barton for me although being an unusual start, has been a brilliant experience so far with many levels of freedom and independence received and for me I wouldn't be anywhere else. Yes it’s been challenging, different and unusual but this fresh start has been an eye opener and brung new opportunities into my life, I bet it has done with yours too. No steps back, keep moving forward. - Bella Knight It’s been 2 weeks since we started and I still can’t believe how different college is to school. Everything I do is my choice - the independence is unbelievable. If I want to go home when I don’t have a lesson I can. If I want to stay and study I can. It's up to me to get the right bus, it’s up to me what I want to wear. It’s different to feel so trusted by your teachers and the staff. I think that the freedom of college really shadows over the lack of mutual respect in school - where year 11s get treated the same as year 7s and where even some of the teachers don’t agree with the rules set by the head staff. And even though we have to sit far apart from each other in lessons due to Coronavirus, I’ve still been able to collaborate with other people in class and it’s been easy to find people with similar interests due to the huge amount of people at Barton. I know it’s still early days at college but I really think that I’m already growing up at Barton and I’m excited to see what it brings me. - Austín

Lockdown officially began on the 23rd of March 2020. Before lockdown had started in the UK I was seeing and hearing about the lockdown happening in China where the rest of my family lives. Life in lockdown was the big break that I was looking for. Time to recenter myself, spend more time with family, learn new skills and be reminded that self-care and taking time for yourself is important. Lockdown made me a much happier and stronger person. 6 months at home made me think about what I really wanted in terms of education and making life choices. I was ready to re-enter the education system that I had left since graduating secondary school last year. Starting college after such a long time was tough but I was ready. Ready to experience life. Ready to learn. Ready for education. The first two weeks of college passes in a whirlwind of people, getting lost, missing the bus and trying to get to grips with a new subject. The shift from sleeping late to waking up early was the biggest challenge. Wearing face masks around the site and sitting with classmates - socially distanced of course - was all very new and alien-like. I vowed in January that 2020 would be my year and it still is but in a slightly different way that i expected it to be. - Sulena

Lockdown was a time of freedom. When else in our lives will we be able to say we have a 6 month break and used every second of that time to reset? Probably never. After we all got over the initial worries and panic we realised it was actually a blessing in disguise. College is the same.We are all realising now that college is a time for us to completely reinvent ourselves, discover a new passion and appreciate our friends and family on a different level. None of us thought that a world wide Coronavirus pandemic would be the making of us. Class of 2020 will go down in history. January us and September us are like strangers now. This is our first taste of complete uncertainty in life. We didn't get our exams. We didn't get our results. We didn't get our proms or parties. We didn't get the “best summer of our lives''. Instead we got 6 months of being stuck inside our houses being told by Boris we are all grounded. Who would have thought it? But, for all of us now college is our escape. New friends, new teachers, new subjects, new school route, new classrooms, I think this is great for most of us but some of us don't want new. We don't want to have to always have stinky sanitiser hands or masks as the new “must-have fashion item”. We don't all want bubbles or groups below 6. We don't want online classrooms and suspended timetables. For some us we have flourished in lockdown but for others it has been the most alone they have ever felt. We must remember while walking around college that behind every single lanyard is a person. A person who could either be having the worst day of their lives or the best. We don't know what everyone else is going through and we must remember that lockdown caused us all to look very deeply into the mirror and see ourselves clearly for once, some people discovered they were not as happy as they thought they were but we all felt incredibly vulnerable and exposed. I think lockdown will ignite this generation and many more to become more accepting and empathic. As i've said, the Class of 2020 will go down in history! -Tegan

Turning up for college after months of lockdown wasn’t how I expected it to be. Waiting for the first week to start felt like years, I was constantly counting down the days until I got to ‘turn over a new leaf’ in my life. As soon as that time came, it was almost as if I was desensitized to my excitement I felt - when I turned up it was like I had attended the college before. I am not at all disappointed about starting because I’ve been waiting for this as soon as we had an abrupt end to our secondary school life. Everything to me feels anti-climatic; with what has happened you expect that it will end in a bang. It was like in those months of waiting I was expecting something big to happen, though it hasn’t ended like that at all. I know that I’m not the only one who feels like this - the class of 2020 has undoubtedly been let down. I will admit though, having a free pass to skip our GCSE’s was very lucky and having a reason to stay indoors and draw all day is something I am very grateful for. However, I realise that we’ll be one of the only generations that have experienced this so far. But, to be honest it hasn’t been much of an experience for me. In fact, I feel like nothing has changed since the pandemic - the only difference is that we have to wear masks now, which can be annoying when you forget to bring it with you, but it’s nothing life changing.

When I first heard that there was a new disease over in China, I expected nothing of it. Then it spread to europe, then Britain and it became a worldwide pandemic. On the announcement of GCSEs being cancelled, I was in total disbelief. I thought there was no way we couldn’t do them and it put me in a total phase of uncertainty. When lockdown first started, i was just waiting for that email telling us to come back and continue life as it was but that never happened. I didn’t really think about starting college as it seemed so long away and thought how life had to be back to normal again. First my interview got cancelled and I didnt then have a set date for weeks of when it would be. The whole world was full of uncertainty and nobody really knew what was going to happen. The entire uncertainty of the world put me at an unease for starting college as i couldn’t go in for the open days or meet anybody for my interview. Once lockdown eased and we knew for certain we were starting in September, i was beyond exited to get back to some sort of normality, meet new people and get back into education. - Elizabeth Ames

When this all started back in March I thought nothing of it - 6 months down the line and prom isn’t happening, GCSE exams didn’t happen and I started college. Everyone I know found it funny in the beginning: they thought we’d have a long summer and start college in September, which we did, but not in the way any of us could have imagined. It was supposed to be full of fun and friends but instead it was full of new Netflix shows, facemasks and waving at people 2 metres away. I never thought that I would live through a major historical event let alone a pandemic that is still happening today. College seemed like years ago back in March but now it’s here and we’ve started. We have to wear masks on the bus, through the corridors and until we reach our seats in the classrooms; we have to adapt to a new way of learning and participating in college and that in itself is difficult, it makes it harder to get to know new people and express your views and opinions. The news is flooded with daily coronavirus updates with statistics and facts and names of people you’ve never heard of. College was the excitement of starting new and that’s exactly what it is, new and surreal. - Grace Ribeiro

I feel like I've been affected by this pandemic less than others; I’m generally rather introverted and spend a lot of time at home anyways. I’m not one to go out clubbing, or getting drunk with my mates on the beach, I’m more of a stay at home and watch Netflix kind of person. It’s definitely been a unique experience, despite it not impacting my regular schedule all too much. Not being able to take my final exam has both been a curse and a blessing, as I don’t have to fight through the stress of sitting in the exam hall, pen in hand and not knowing what to do in the slightest, but it also means that I don’t necessarily have the chance to improve myself over my mock and predicted grades. Despite this, I've been well acclimated to the lockdown lifestyle, I’ve picked up many hobbies and honed my skills with my extended after GCSE break until the start of college. The first two weeks of college at Barton have been rather surreal. The intensive lessons and hour long transit from home to campus have been taxing for me. I’m not the best at keeping on top of my workload, but so far i’m doing alright with it, I'd say. The COVID 19 pandemic hasn’t necessarily improved or harmed how well I've been acclimating to college, but more so shifted it with slightly different focuses and worries. Online learning has been interesting; I’ve been enjoying not having to get up so early for my morning lessons, and I still get the amount of interaction necessary to keep me focused on the topics at hand, though it is quite surreal working from my desk at home. I don’t think that overly worrying about the pandemic will help, but social distancing and masks are required, though wearing one is not as big of an issue as some people make it out to be. In my opinion, the most important thing for Barton to focus on is making sure people are learning enough, and are staying safe and mentally well.- Arch Broadway

I've not been affected by the Corona Virus as much as others as I'm pretty introverted and like to stay in and play video games or watch Netflix. Not being able to Sit my GCSEs has its perks as it relieves the stress and it means I passed subjects I missed course work for. However I got lower than my predicted grade in 1 of subjects which was a let down but I still got the grade required to take it in college. The first 2 weeks of college have been ok , making friends was quite easy as people in my chosen subjects tend to have the same hobby and interests. The subjects i have taken are Computer Science which is the inner workings of an electronic device and the coding that goes with it and Media CDT which is Graphic design. I Like how there's a lot more freedom at college for example the dress code. The bus travel has been good despite it being full sometimes on the way home. I'm excited to see how my skills develop by the end of my time at barton. - Matt

Personally the Corona Virus hasn't really affected me that much because I already spend a lot of time at home. I usually spend my time on Discord or making vehicles in blender (Cars, boats and trains etc) and during lockdown i've just been trying to get better at it. At the moment im trying to learn how to UV map because I can then add more detail using textures which looks a lot better than just assigning a colour to each part. Even though I have been able to practice my blender skills and get better which is good, there are still a few negative things that have happened because of this lockdown. Because of the current situation I haven't been able to see my dad as much as I would like to and I haven’t seen my nan for almost a year now. Starting college was exciting but also very nerve racking as I am a bit awkward around people but I love it a lot more than secondary school. I love the freedom you get at college and being able to do what you want is wonderful. Lets hope for a good 2021 and for this virus to just disappear. - Robert

Different. New. Nerve-wracking. Exhausting. Exciting. These first two weeks have been so many things but I think the most suitable word is abnormal. Not only were we taking the leap from school to college, we were doing it in a global pandemic. The first time we met the people we’d be spending two of the most important years of our life with, we couldn’t even see their faces. Welcoming smiles were masked behind literal masks, and I soon realised just how much I miss lip reading now that I can’t. Perhaps the strangest thing about it all was how normalised it all is. For me at least, putting a mask on has become as regular as brushing my hair in the morning. I feel a lot calmer about all of this than I thought I would, part of me is just waiting for the stress and nerves to kick in. Having 6 months with no responsibilities and nothing to do meant three things for me: a lot of Netflix, a lot of snacking and a lot of time to think. A pandemic really puts a lot into perspective, most of all how much we took for granted before. If there’s one thing I am taking from this lockdown into college it is that you’ve got to live your life to the absolute fullest, go and talk to that person who seems really fun in your class, go and take a q-extra you’re unsure about, go and have as many college experiences as you possibly can. Don’t waste this time. - Isabelle K

After months of lockdown, where we were only allowed out of the house once and could only be surrounded by the people who lived with you, restrictions are finally being eased. This has now resulted in students re-attending school and college.I think that after such a long time stuck inside and unable to go anywhere or do anything, it has been a relief to many, including me, to get back to some form of normality which for us is going back to attending college and school on a regular basis and getting back into a routine. Although many people believe that Corona had negatively affected their transition from secondary school to college, I do not agree because I think that after such a long time being in unsure circumstances, being around other people and being in a new environment has been a good change.In addition, i don't think that college has been affected too much by the virus, the only changes are the face mask rule and the online lessons which do not negatively impact our learning or college experience. I am also happy that ,because I was in the year group that moved on to college instead of returning to secondary school, everyone has started new and has the same experience as me. I have also enjoyed going to college because I am only doing the subjects that I find interesting and want to spend time working on which motivates me more. - Annaliese Miller