“Just the feeling of not knowing what was going to happen, made me worried,” said one of Kuranui College’s Deputy Head Boys, Connor Turton, on the whole country going into a rapid ‘lockdown’ to tackle the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Throughout the last two months, schools all around the country were forced to close their doors, throwing students like Turton into all sorts of situations they had no idea how to deal with.

To reduce the spread of the virus, schools remain closed locking down any movement of people around the country, which meant that students and teachers couldn’t leave their own homes, so lessons had to take place online at home.

The student leadership team came up with different ways to stay connected to their college community, including creating short videos online on topics such as the different ways to keep safe and tips and tricks to tackle online learning, and even hosting a virtual assembly.

Although going into lockdown was something so unexpected Mel Redfern, one of the college’s Events leaders, welcomed the break. “Lockdown was a situation that helped me to be productive, but it also encouraged me to see this as a good thing for my mental health. With all the stress it was good to have a break,” she said.

The staff also got on board and contributed to the online humour by doing their own videos like the ‘Day in the (lockdown) Life of Kuranui College’ and celebrating the reopening to the tune of Village People’s ‘YMCA’. Principal Simon Fuller also ran the ‘Great Lockdown Daily Quiz’.

Deputy Head Boy Joji Dell said he really appreciated the staff getting involved. “Even though we weren't all together, by staying connected through social media it felt like we were.” 

Student Leaders Virtual Assembly

Written by Nina Gelashvili. Article added: Wednesday 03 June 2020