Lockdown Reflections

Students and staff at Highlands College share their experiences of lockdown through various art forms

At Highlands College we believe that positive relationships underpin everything that we do. It is these relationships that create a feeling of community within which students feel safe and develop the confidence to learn, and it is this same sense of community that encourages our staff to take pride in what they do.

As a college we were well equipped to meet educational needs during lockdown; we were ahead of the curve having adopted Teams back in 2017, so although moving to online teaching was new to us, the concept and technology certainly was not.

Our main concern at the start of lockdown was actually around wellbeing. We had strategies in place that included: surveying students, their families, and staff to ensure that their needs were being met; telephone calls home; our ‘Student Life’ team remained available to offer support throughout the lockdown and Summer break; wellbeing sessions and workshops were introduced, along with online forums...

... But we also understood the importance of maintaining the Highlands College sense of community: finding ways to engage with staff and students from a distance was another concern.

Students and staff were encouraged to get involved with College-led activities or to share with others what they had been doing. The level of engagement was astounding, with Friday afternoon socials scheduled onTeams, sport challenges, cook offs and bake offs. We had students who composed their own music and performed through video, we had others who sent in makeup and hairdressing tutorials.

The art department challenged their students to choose one positive and one negative lockdown experience each. They were given blank postcards and asked to represent their experiences through art.

The English Department introduced ‘Bright Writes’ - a writing exercise that was open to everyone and required participants to submit a short story based on that week’s theme. The exercise was launched with the theme ‘My New Skill’.

Overall we feel the relationships we have built within Highlands College, and with the students, their families, our other colleagues and the wider community, have been enhanced during this difficult time, enabling us to offer more students than ever a chance to study and aspire.

llikS weN yM

My twins are zooming up through the single figures now. Already their jaws have breached the midway marker of my beer gut, and – given the amount of food they’re shovelling down these days – show no sign of slowing their ascent.

Sure, I hear you: at ground level sound travels too fast for the naked ear to tell the difference. But trust me; things change after seven weeks of home schooling. Physics starts to wilt. Your eardrums are… raw. You start looking for solutions. A zeptosecond of silence here, a Planck length of peace there can make all the difference.

And it has! Okay so the blood-rush to the head is discomforting at times, and hand-standing to the door to gaze up at the socially distant postman takes some doing (pro tip – roller-skate on each hand, padded facemask strapped to the crown of your head), but in the main I’m happy. My children’s mouths (and all accompanying arguments, wails or whinges) are now just that little bit further from my lugs than they were before, and receding by the week. My new blog, Headstand for Happiness, is gaining readers by the day. I’m saving on shoes. Life’s good.

Paul Bisson

Always

The new skill I have developed during lockdown is the ability to recognise that I am always right. Not that I know when I’m right, but really that I am, quite simply, always right. This has delighted not only me, but also my wife and children. How reassuring it is for them to know that they don’t need to question any opinions I state or facts I draw their attention to!

If, for example, one of them says, “It’s 5 o’clock” and I correct them by saying, “Actually, it’s 3 minutes past 5”, they can feel a glow of reassurance in getting the data 100% accurately. Or if I express an opinion on a burning political issue, none of them needs to question or doubt either the opinion or the strength of feeling I adopt in expressing it! The flat has become very calm, even silent over the last few weeks; even though it is quite a small flat, surprisingly, I don’t often meet members of my family during the day.

But I am now happy in the knowledge that my wife can be so reassured: that having married Mr. Right, it is now clear his first name is Always.

Andrew Wilson

The Enforcer

Arriving in Jersey just hours before lockdown, I immediately grasped that here lay enormous scope for my existing talents, and ample opportunities for developing new ones.

First, the daily two hours of exercise lacked structure and it was left to my ingenuity and organisational skills to ensure that walks were more interesting. I felt that spontaneous games of hide-and-seek, when I vanished unexpectedly into the undergrowth, added a delightful unpredictability, although my family seemed less enthusiastic and I never managed to persuade them to join me in chase-the-rabbit.

However, even rabbits pall eventually, so one morning I decided it was time to conquer the large expanse of blue water I had noticed over the wall. Accustomed as I was to a sluggish English river, this seemed daunting but I am always ready to learn a new skill. Imagine my fright when an enormous wall of water reared up at me just as I was retrieving my ball, completely engulfing me. Sea and sky somersaulted, but I struggled ashore and looking around noticed a huddle of people on the beach. My duty was clear. I bounded amongst them and with a thorough shake found my vocation: an enforcer of social distancing.

Jane Martin

Masterchef

He flicked through the cookbooks, marvelling at the pictures. The terminology was a whole new lexicon, and he revelled in the sounds: Bouquet Garni; Soffrito; simmer; coddle; broil.

“Don’t worry, love. I’ll make dinner,” he said.

Proud of his new skill, he considered what he could pull together from the store-cupboard ingredients they had. Possibilities rolled through his imagination.

He put the ingredients on the side, placed his tools in an orderly fashion and began. His wife would no doubt have used a wooden spoon, he chuckled to himself, shaking his head – he found a plastic spatula more effective as it didn’t destroy soft ingredients as he stirred.

Heat low, but not too low, he set to work. He was using salted butter – supposedly worse for you than margarine, but worth it, as seasoning was key. He grated Double Gloucester; nuttier than Cheddar, he found. As the sourdough bread grilled, he added haricot beans and a pinch of pepper for good measure. Eventually he layered each element carefully on the plate. Finished with a sprig of Flat Leafed Parsley. Presentation was important.

It was a simple dish, but flavoursome. “Beans on toast is ready,” he called up the stairs, proudly.

Dreena Collins

Time Of My Life

Boring. Boring. Boring. Bored of board games. Cardboard. Cupboard. Boardroom. Keyboard. Surfboard. … Skateboard.

That’s it… skateboard! They’re always banging on at me about learning new stuff, why not give it a go? Show ‘em what you can do?

Finding it in the garage wasn’t easy. A million years’ worth of useless and outgrown toys were stacked in a long forgotten dusty corner. Found it by pulling the rusty wheels out from behind a box of dismembered Barbies; it looked ok. Fairly steady I’d say. How hard can it be eh?

It took some doing I can tell you. A full week. Every day, practice, practice, practice. On the weekend I was ready, I’ll show ‘em, making their crafty plans for me. They were all there; in the living room gormlessly glued to their latest gadgets.

It was all worth it. Never before have I seen such panic and horror in their eyes as I smoothly skated past the window up and down.

‘Grandad, what the hell are you doing?!’ Staying out of a home that’s what.

Carol Tyrer

AYIANA PANNETTER Level 3 Extended Diploma

Art & Design

Although the College was unexpectedly closed for months, this did not mean that learning simply stopped. New and novel ways were developedtoengagewithourstudents and to ensure that their education continued; lessons moved online and projects were still completed. For Ayiana the lockdown period proved to be one of reflection and inspiration. With the various restrictions in place, her art became a way to express herself. She soon embarked upon her own project inspired by facemasks.

Following an essential trip to

Glasgow, and after experiencing the far tighter restrictions in place there, Ayiana began to reflect on the erosion of identity caused by the use of facemasks. She developed a very real sense that in many places people were ‘no longer people, they were numbers instead’.

Interactions in St Helier had changed, they were awkward, distant and at times faceless. Ayiana began to take note of where face coverings could be commonly observed preCOVID, and her project evolved into one that explored people’s perceptions of face coverings and those who wear them.

Ayiana’s project is still a work in progress but is testament to the fact that inspiration is all around us.