Kyneton High School students are looking forward to returning to school next week after months of home schooling due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Students from the leadership team recently met outside the school in front of the sign the team wrote to boost morale during the lockdowns.
Principal Ana Rees said everybody had been placed outside their comfort zones.
“For the year 12 students, their whole year has just been thrown up in the air. There is a lot of pressure on them,” Ms Rees said.
“I don’t know whether our sense of hope has been stretched. We’ve taken so much for granted. You have to dig deep; you have to be optimistic.
“It’s our attitudes and values that carry you through. It’s that compass within you. You have to make sure that compass is pointing in the right direction.”
Year 11 student leader Chloe Goodwin said when she heard that there were cases at Sacred Heart as well as Kyneton High it made COVID-19 seem much more real and personal.
“It hit home to know that really nowhere was safe and that just because we live in the country area doesn’t mean that we escaped the reality of this pandemic,” she said.
“COVID-19 has made me cherish having face-to-face contact with not only the students but the teachers as well.
“It’s affected not only my schooling life but everyday life.
“It’s made me more mindful of the things I take for granted and how easily they can be taken away in an instant.
“I am terrified for the future aftermath that COVID-19 will bring for not only our economic climate but the structure of everyday life.”
The student leadership team spoke of a sense of disconnection and a mix of emotions, good and bad, during the lockdown. They felt a fear of the unknown, and for what the future held.
“The whole world is struggling, but if we can get through a pandemic, we can get through anything,” one student leader said.
“We’re living in a future history lesson. In 10 years’ time, kids will be taking notes on this in preparation for an exam,” added Amy Falkai who is in year nine and on the student leadership team.
This story and photo is part of photographer Sandy Scheltema’s ‘Life in the Time of Corona Virus’ documentary series, funded by Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria as part of the Sustaining Creative Workers Initiative.
