It’s been absolutely brilliant to see Crew Young return to school with such a focused start to their year 10 after months in lock-down! Last week we watched a video that showed the origins of XP School, and how the first year group set the bar……it’s fair to say that at XP East our “Youngsters” are doing the same!
I also asked our Crew for their reflections on their return to school and it’s clear from their comments that they just want things to be back to normal:
“At first, I was excited to see all of my mates, but at the same time, I had a slight worry in my mind of how the norms would be when we return back to school. Overall, I was happy to be back at school and it had exceeded my expectations”.
“To be honest my return on school didn’t make me feel anxious to be mixing with a large group of people at all as during lock-down I still mixed occasionally with people when I could whilst playing basketball. I was more anxious about the fact the GCSEs are coming closer which causes unnecessary stress. However, now that stress has somewhat subsided and isn’t as much of a worry but glad to be at school as it’s a sign things are normalising again”.
“To reflect on my return to school, I wasn’t very worried about coming back because I knew that the guidelines would be followed by school and that I wouldn’t feel unsafe at all…..”.
“Before coming back to school, I was thinking about how it would all work whether it was class or just around school. I was excited to see my friends again but I also wasn’t looking forward to possibly having to keep 2 metres.Now I’m not as concerned about any of this because nothing has really changed other than having to sanitise my hands every time I enter the building”.
“…..During the quarantine, I didn’t meet my school friends even once, and we only really started keeping contact again a couple of weeks before we came back. Despite that, the idea of getting to see my friends was exhilarating after months spent isolated. And finally, I was glad that the ordeal was over. As somebody who was quarantined a week longer than the rest of the UK, I began to feel how tedious lock-down had become by the fourth month. I found myself counting the days until I was back at school again, purely because I longed for some sense of normality, for feeling like a functioning human again. That’s why I was extremely glad that school managed to open”.
We’re back….even stronger than before!