By James, Year 8
The year 2020 will be a year that a lot of people will remember, it will go down in history. Bohunt Horsham has ploughed on through the year and the teachers and students haven’t given up and how a lot of things have changed for the year.
In 2019, at the start of the first year at Bohunt Horsham, we were all excited to start learning at a brand new school for the first time as only year 7s had come into the year. With sixteen staff and 120 students, it wasn’t exactly massive but it was a school and the teachers were extremely good at teaching us throughout that year . The school had no major problems and it was a nice place to be and a lot of people made new friends and everyone got on very well. Secondary school offers a lot of opportunities for young people and Bohunt Horsham were pushing the students’ learning to the best of their possible abilities.
Then, at the start of 2020, things started to change.
As usual we went to school and we were told not to worry too much, to stay calm, reassured that we wouldn’t head into a lockdown. At school, time went by so fast and by the time we knew it it was March and cases had started to spread. Finally, on 16th March the whole country went into lockdown.
Boris Johnson announced that schools would be closing but not for children of key workers. That means that students across the country would have to be at home doing online learning and key workers would be allowed to come to school (but learning would still be online). Our teachers were online so we could ask for help and my classmates and I just got on with their work.
The other keyworkers’ children and I worked all day at school and left at the end of the day. We would spend most of our days on a screen but what else were we supposed to do? The government would monitor how many people came into school so we had to sign in and do an exit ticket when we arrived and when we left. It was hard being at key worker school but we got treated well. At Easter 2020, for the two weeks of the school holidays, our teachers came into school to look after us. My parents are so grateful and still cannot thank them enough for everything they have done for us. Our headteacher, Ms Ayling even brought in her stepson’s PlayStation!
At break and lunch time we were allowed to play dodgeball out in the activity zone which was so fun. The teachers would also treat us to some Dominoes deliveries and film screenings as well! In July, when school ended, we had a nice long summer, with a much needed relaxing break from working and we were all thrilled to, finally, go back to school in September.
The start of the new term arrived and we welcomed some new Year 7s for the first time. Everything started well, teachers welcomed us back and it was great to catch up with our mates. On our first day, we got to meet the new teachers joining us and the new year 7s. At first most of the Year 8s felt worried about the Year 7s coming in, it had been nice to have a school all to ourselves but we carried on and we made some new friends. It was nice to be back in our uniform as we had had months of wearing our own clothes, we felt so smart, clean and fresh.
However coronavirus hadn’t gone anywhere. At school, we had to wear masks in the corridor and would have to be socially distanced outside of lessons. Honestly, the restrictions kind of sucked but it was OK because we had all missed school. After two half terms of hard work we couldn’t wait to get the Christmas holiday started. We all had a nice Christmas but cases had started to rise rapidly and the government introduced the new system of regionalised tiering. And then announced a lockdown, which meant we could not go back to school. For Bohunt Horsham students, that was awful.
In January 2021 we were back to Keyworker School and online learning. This time was a lot better because we had google meet for almost every lesson! This meant we could attend our lessons with ease and it actually felt like being in a school just on an iPad. We had never felt so lucky to be an iPad 1:1 school. The teachers could teach us a live lesson and help us if we got stuck and we could ask them any questions about the learning. Because cases have been so high, Keyworker School has been a bit stricter, we Year 8s have had to work in the canteen. Because of COVID-19 we had to open the doors and windows to increase ventilation and it is so cold. I miss socialising and being with my mates and I know we have missed out on some of the opportunities the school would have offered but there is still lots of time to make up for what we have all missed.
I am a child of two keyworkers and at times things are quite tough. My parents are both front line workers for the NHS and they have ploughed on through. I have been to school throughout this whole pandemic. Really. I have come to school pretty much everyday, maybe missing a few days when my dad or mum has been off. I even came to school in all of the holidays, we played hide and seek with Mr Brooks, we sat on the nice comfy chairs, we ate Dominoes and watched Star Wars.
This last year and a half has been hard at times but it is an experience I will never forget. I am so grateful for the staff at Bohunt Horsham and I can’t wait to do my GCSEs here, my school has supported me and my family through all of this pandemic.
To be honest, a lot has happened in a year and a half.
