Cooma’s silver lining to lockdown

A student remotely joins the classroom with her pet lamb

With the recent lifting of the lockdown restrictions in the Snowy Monaro shires, the social isolation at home and hours spent on MS Teams calls are still fresh in many students’ minds. Talking through screens was the only way to learn, socialise and collaborate during our school’s Connected Learning.

Knowing how much some kids complain about how boring school is, completing schoolwork in the comfort of your own home should be a dream come true… in theory. But in reality, most students had a new set of challenges.

A student from St Patrick’s Cooma on the look out for internet reception

At first, when most of the state was suddenly thrown into lockdown, it seemed that school hours would be filled with typing essays, work on assignments and filling in tests, without the usual classroom antics, engagement and human interaction in-between. But surprisingly, that wasn’t necessarily the case.

The way the school organised video calls into the class timetable also ensured that students would be able to have enough time for teachers to help them with work while still being reasonably independent.

We have come to appreciate connecting to one another through a variety of ways other than texting and calling.

Now that restrictions are somewhat eased, students and staff alike are looking forward to catching up with friends and family and doing the activities that they enjoy.  Every step in making the connection helps us all to look after ourselves physically, mentally and socially. The silver lining to lockdowns is a heightened appreciation of connection!

Josh Abrokwah is a Year 10 student at St Patrick’s Catholic School in Cooma