A reflection on returning to physical school

It has been a long time since we have experienced greeting our friends, seeing our teachers, walking through the corridors, and running around at playtimes. We have always enjoyed this morning routine, going to school, back and forth but this has not always been possible in the last year or so. Unfortunately, our school was closed and we had to do online school.

During online school, we missed a colossal amount of things about physical school. As Junior leaders, we can certainly say that it was really hard for us to complete or follow up tasks. We did not get to see our friends face-to-face, we missed physically being with our teachers, we did not get to do proper group discussions (although breakout rooms did help!) and learning was just not as fun! We were not able to attend any extra-curricular activities which was also challenging. Many of us, including our parents, found it challenging to help us stay engaged during online school as our home environment can be pretty distracting. Thankfully, now we also don't have to worry about many technical and other issues, such as Wi-Fi problems, passwords, or pets jumping in front of the camera! Now that we have our lessons physically, it is much easier to learn!

Even though there were some good parts to online schooling (being at home with family; wearing our own clothes was a little more comfortable; we had longer to complete our assignments), we truly did miss physical school. Then we received the super news: we were going to be going back!

Since being back at physical school, our kind and caring teachers have organised many fun activities for us. Science week was enjoyable, where everyone was dressed as scientists. We loved seeing everyone in their unique outfits, and we enjoyed the exciting science experiments, which was so fun! We have been learning about intriguing topics such as writing a narrative, the digestive system, and Vikings. Year Six also enjoyed coming into school dressed up as Vikings, including all the activities organised on Viking Day. Working in groups to solve challenging math problems and sharing our unique ideas made our learning more enjoyable. We now get to show our workings and explanations on a whiteboard! And finally, our weekly assemblies have started physically! It has been really nice to go around school and see all the other children also having so much fun. Our favourite bit has been break time, where we get to spend time just being with our friends.

We are so glad to have moved from online to physical school, so let us all make the best of it. We are very grateful to all those who made it possible. As we continue to collectively learn as a class and in groups, we must all remain safe by practicing Covid safety measures. We have learned this from our teachers. While talking and playing with our friends, we have to maintain social distance. Although some of us find wearing masks and staying one meter away from our friends quite tricky, our excellent teachers always have a way to make it enjoyable. Our teachers have many more fun and enjoyable activities planned for us, and we can't wait for what is yet to come! Let us all hope that this pandemic will end soon and until then, stay safe and enjoy learning, everyone!

By Liyana Salie and Yadurshayan Kulaseelan

(Head Girl and Head Boy of Junior School)