Students readjust to class life

Students and teachers are back in their classrooms, readjusting to in-person learning and reflecting on how Alert Level changes has affected their school life.

Nayland College year 13 students Hannah Young and Jaxon Marshall felt this year’s lockdown was less stressful than the last.

“It’s been a bit mixed amongst students, everyone had a different lockdown experience,” says Hannah.

They agree one of the most frustrating elements of lockdown and Alert Level changes has been student events having to be cancelled.

“We’ve had a few things cancelled like winter tournament, which is a week away for sports, the school’s Cultural Week and an outdoor ed camp we’d been preparing for all year,” says Jaxon.

Deputy principal and English teacher Rowan Taigel says the first two days of school were slightly more relaxed as teachers were dedicated to reconnecting with students.

She says Nayland will have extra tutorials and one on one time with students will be set up from this week.

“It’s a mechanism we’ve used in the past before exams. It’s a good chance to catch up on things they might have missed

School exams or “mocks” are coming up in two weeks for Nayland and Rowan says it will be a good indicator for seeing where students are at academically.

Academics wise, Nelson College for Girls year 13 student Lilly Neame described this lockdown period as “kind of chill” compared to last year.

“The work we got over lockdown wasn’t so overwhelming this time.  I think it’s been a little bit easier for year 13 because we know what we’re doing this time around and that takes the pressure off a bit,” she says.

Lilly says the annual exam stress is starting to creep up on some students with student exams around the corner.

“Teachers are aware we’re all a bit stressed about the bulk of the material. Some teachers have said they will be marking with that in mind to make sure we get a good amount of feedback,” she says.

Last month the Ministry of Education pushed NCEA exam dates back two weeks till November 22 to December 14 to reflect the disruption caused by the COVID-19 alert level 4 lockdown.

Lilly says this hasn’t come as a relief for all students.

“To be honest I am a little annoyed, I understand it but it’s still two weeks into our summer holidays and working hours for uni students next year,” she says.

Students disrupted by the 16 days of COVID-19 lockdown this year will be eligible to receive Learning Recognition Credits through NCEA, meaning a few extra credits for year 11 to 13 students.

Reflecting on online learning Lilly has high praise for her teachers.

“It was hard because we started learning in the middle of our exam preparation. I think the teachers did really well, managing classes with each other and not pressuring us to have our cameras on over video,” she says.

NCG assistant principal and psychology and history teacher Nichola Hayes agrees staff did well to get the school through Alert Level changes.

“At our staff briefing at the start of the week we thanked all the teachers for their work over lockdown, for knowing their students, and checking in with them to make sure they were okay,” she says.

Nichola says the school has also welcomed a very high attendance rate that they were not expecting following lockdown.

“It’s been a really good uptake of students coming back into class. On the social side of things, it’s really important for them to be catching up with their friends and the seniors are pretty focused on exams,” she says.