Recollections:

Teachers and Staff:

Mrs Dickinson - Latin Teacher, 2020:

In some ways, remote learning is easier for a teacher. You can teach from the comfort of your home, you don’t have to commute hours every day to get into school and the electronic communication has worked well. You also have to spend a lot of time chasing students to E-mail or share work and this is time-consuming.

Marking is a lot harder in Latin online too. One thing that is good is that some of the more lively classes are easier to manage, so those students who can sometimes disrupt others, can’t do that remotely. It is also hard when students turn their screens off-it is difficult to sound keen and

Mrs Pennack - Development Officer and Hymers Mum, 2022:

In 2021, all the teachers were at home and support staff remained in school.

My daughter was in Year 7 and came into school as a key worker’s child, one of approximately 30 of these children. A lot of my work involved students who I could only talk to on Zoom and lots of Old Hymerians that we spoke to were in the older generation and afraid to leave the house, so a comforting chat was great for them. The school was very empty compared to usual and any meetings consisted of two people at the opposite ends of a table wearing a mask.

Mr Hayes - Form Tutor and Chemistry Teacher, 2022:

Whilst I missed my family and friends, like most people, I felt lucky that I was able to continue being a teacher online.

I enjoyed speaking to my form group in a morning, listening to what they had been doing to keep themselves entertained and keeping learning, whilst keeping safe at home. I met lots of pets, saw students’ baking and learnt a lot about my students’ hobbies.

As a Chemistry teacher, not being able to be in a lab doing practical work was difficult, but I liked to

Mrs Gibson - Marketing and Design, 2022:

From April 2020, I was furloughed for five weeks then called back into school because Hymers wanted to promote our ‘lockdown learning’ campaign. However, it was quite strange being in school due to the lack of children on the school site. As I was travelling in to work, my work life didn’t change drastically from my normal routine.

My husband is selfemployed and was lucky enthusiastic when faced with 26 black screens! Some negatives are that all the teaching is done from your desk (lots of sitting and hunching over – not good for posture and wellbeing!).

We were very fortunate during lockdown as we quickly moved into teaching online and the projects that we put in place were more graphicsbased so we had lots of designing, Computer Aided Design-based and modelling activities. Most students had basic resources at home that they could use to make simple models related to their projects and where possible, one-off STEM activities as extension tasks.

The Dyson foundation put in place a great deal of engineering and science-based activities for students such as creating bridges from found objects, making your own compass and lots more. It was great to watch students showing and testing their work on Zoom and to see the

Miss Dai - Maths Teacher, 2020:

I much prefer physical learning. Although the lie-ins, countless cups of tea and sitting in comfy clothes made remote learning much more bearable, nothing compares to actually being able to teach students in person. I miss having little chats as people walk in and out creativity that they had put into their work from their own bedrooms. be creative and do a few home experiments in my kitchen.

One of the challenges when we returned to school though, was the fact that students had missed out on practical learning. This meant that some students had not learned skills needed to help them move to the next level and so we had to put in place some catch-up activities.

This was reflected also in GCSE and A level groups and up until this year, students were designing and making, but only making prototypes and models as part of their coursework instead of manufactured products.

I am glad to say that as of this year, we are ‘back to normal’.

My wife is also a teacher, so some days were interesting when we could hear each other teaching in other rooms. She said that I am a noisy teacher! Going back to work and

Sometimes Zoom meetings took place with people who were next door!

Mrs James - School Nurse, 2022:

of the classroom about their pets or what they did last weekend.

It also gave me flexibility - I could spend my double free period baking if I wanted! Another positive was the lack of business wear - I could wear a t-shirt and jeans and not have to worry about ironing my clothes! too as he continued to work. He became a key worker and therefore had permission to travel across the country.

My daughter had completed university the year before and her first seeing everyone at the end of lockdown was a highlight for me, despite all of the restrictions we were still living under, I was pleased to see all of my students and the staff again.

My main job was to look after patients during COVID and communicate with their families who could not visit. It was hard making sure that the patients didn’t spread the virus and that I didn’t spread it. The hardest part of being a nurse in lockdown for me was having to go to work while my children stayed at home. They had to home-school themselves and coming home it was difficult to make sure I didn’t contaminate them

Mrs Picton: School Welfare Nurse, 2022:

by making sure only my clothes were in the washing machine and I could only go near them after I had had a shower.

Testing the students in school was strangely positive in a way, that it helped me learn more about the students, as I was new to the school, but the logistics behind it were quite hard. Everyone was really pleasant while testing and I definitely learnt more about the students! job as an Engineering Geologist was for a firm in Doncaster. She was glad to be living at home during lockdown as she was furloughed for 13 weeks as the building industry ground to a halt.

My job as a mental health nurse during COVID was really strange. I was actually working in Somerset in a community mental health nursing role. It was a very different time of nursing for me, very different from anything I had done in my career. As it was lockdown, roads were quieter so I could get places quicker - a real bonus when you work in the community!

We also had lots of free lunches, ice creams and cakes delivered to the team which was another bonus!

The patients I had then actually said they felt better, not what I expected at all! A lot of them found leaving the home hard, so by having to stay in they didn’t have to worry about this and so focused on themselves more and with more time to do so, which really helped them. I left for Hull kind of in the middle of the pandemic so I never got to see how they were doing. I hope they are OK!

On the flip side coming out of lockdown, and now working with you lovely lot, I can see how hard the lockdown was, we lost a lot of really important time didn’t we?

Time to socialise, communicate face to face, learn new things and be ourselves, it was quite an isolating time I think.

I think everyone’s wellbeing has been affected, either in big ways or smaller ways from the pandemic but, I certainly think life is back now and we have a wonderful opportunity ahead of us to recoup the lost time and fun.

Mr Wright, Deputy Head, Questionnaire:

What were your first thoughts when you heard the news about the lockdown in March 2020?

Although the situation was one that was unprecedented for our generation, the lockdown was preceded by about two weeks of a developing situation, both across Europe and in the United Kingdom, and so the decision to lockdown and to close schools did not come suddenly.

And so, thoughts of panic didn’t really arise amongst the Senior Leadership Team of the school. Instead, we used the time to plan and to prepare pupils and staff for the school closure: we researched different remote platforms, ‘Zoom’ and ‘Teams’ that were being used at the time in the business world for remote meetings and decided how we could use one of these platforms as a remote teaching tool. When we made our decision to use Zoom, we then trained staff and pupils on how remote learning would be implemented and we also bought and distributed devices for families who would not have enough suitable devices in their households.

When the announcement of the closure came, we felt as prepared as we could be and in a position where no pupils would miss a single day of faceto-face learning, albeit through a screen at home!

What made you choose Zoom over things like Microsoft Teams, etc.?

In truth, there wasn’t much to choose between Zoom and the other platforms that we researched. At the time, these platforms were completely new to us and to the vast majority of society! When we were testing each one out, the priorities were simplicity-ofuse and functionality that could be adapted to use the software as a tool that replicated a classroom as far as possible.

With Zoom, we liked how easy it was to set up a ‘meeting’, i.e. a lesson and to paste the link for the lesson into a Schoogle task. We also liked how easy it was for staff to share their screen, to use the whiteboard function and to use tools like the ‘break out rooms’ that felt like a replication of working in groups in the classroom.

Do you think lockdown had an effect on children’s learning?

Without any doubt. Yes, we put plans in place so that the timetable would run without pupils missing a day of lessons, rather than simply providing packs of work, that many schools did across the country. And yes, I do think that pupils at Hymers got a far better experience those of most pupils across the country – we were able to provide continuity and stability that normalised the situation as much as possible for pupils, and reduced worry for parents.

However, nothing can replicate being in school in person. As a teacher, I want to be able to sit next to pupils and look at the work that they’re producing, to respond to their facial expressions and body language to gauge their confidence in a topic and to be able to help them in a way that takes all of these factors into account.

The other key aspect of learning that was affected was the learning that takes place as a result of pupils’ interactions with each other. This doesn’t just mean learning of Maths, or Geography, or Art, for example, but also the social development that takes place from interacting with people of the same age and of different ages on a daily basis.

Do you think lockdown had an effect on the teachers’ teaching?

Again, no doubt whatsoever! There are times when teaching is a really hard job – the hours are long during term times and the role requires physical and mental stamina. However, the great aspects of teaching truly are great: the interactions with pupils, the ‘lightbulb moments’ when pupils understand a concept that they previously found difficult, the wider development of the pupils through the support as a Form Tutor, or through the co-curricular programme are all so rewarding and were all affected by the lockdown. Many teachers, myself included, have young families – at the time, my children were 7 and 3 years old. So I was having to try to teach lessons around helping my older son with his learning and keeping my younger son stimulated and happy. Teachers were trying to do their best for the pupils, but in really difficult professional and personal circumstances and these challenges certainly increased the level of worry in doing their job successfully.

How did you feel when FireFly crashed on the first day of lockdown learning?

That was so disappointing! We’d planned for lockdown learning so carefully and we really wanted a successful first day, so that pupils and parents would feel, amongst all of the worry about the Coronavirus, not being able to see friends and family, and jobs and the economy, that at least education at Hymers was going to run as close to normal as possible. The problem was caused by FireFly, the host company for Schoogle, the school’s virtual learning environment. As such, all of the Zoom meeting links were not able to be accessed by the pupils. We responded by asking teachers to email links to pupils and, fortunately, the problem was solved by FireFly by using some of Amazon’s servers in readiness for the second day.

What was your day-to-day job like when we were not at school?

It was very difficult. I taught my lessons to my Year 11 Maths group at the timetabled times. However, much of my role involves meetings with different staff and organisation. It was very difficult to fit the meetings in around supporting my own children at home – there were several meetings where my younger son appeared on screen, because he didn’t understand the situation.

I found that most of my work had to be done through email and therefore the most effective time to do this was at night time after my boys had gone to bed. This meant some really late finishes to days and also some difficulties in the work, because my working hours didn’t align with other staff who had easier availability during the days.

How did you feel when Boris lifted the lockdown and everyone was able to come back to school (September 2020)?

I have to say my reaction was mixed! On the one hand, it was fantastic to be back in school, to see everyone three dimensionally again, and to experience school life, the noise and the buzz of the school on a daily basis. However, on the other hand, there was a whole new raft of challenges that needed to be managed to keep pupils and staff safe. There was regulation about touching books – we were required to leave exercise books untouched for 48 hours after collecting them in. We had to create year group ‘bubbles’ and to find ways of keeping them separated from each other. And so we had different indoor spaces for each year group at break times and lunchtimes and marked areas of the field for year groups to play in.

We had to implement a cleaning regime that included regular handsanitising, cleaning of desks in classrooms when used by different year groups and ‘fogging’ of changing rooms and other large spaces such as the Theatre. Pupils and staff also had to get used to one-way systems of getting around the school site.

The worst part of this period though was the wearing of face coverings and, as a teacher, having to remain at the front of the classroom. I realised how much we all rely on lip-reading alongside listening – I found myself having to teach with a raised voice and also asking for pupils to almost shout their answers to me!

I have to say, though, that the pupils and staff were brilliant! There was still a lot of worry about the Coronavirus, but pupils and staff adopted the regulations and understood that they were necessary.

How difficult was it to run a track and trace programme for school?

Personally speaking, this was the hardest aspect of the re-opening of schools. Pupils and staff had spent so long being stuck indoors and remote learning and so it was really difficult to say to a pupil that they had been ‘in close contact’ with someone who had tested positive and therefore, they would need to go home immediately and spend the following 10 days in isolation.

It was also difficult as we had to check when pupils had sat near other pupils in lessons, assess the distance that they had sat from them and to then determine their personal return-to-school dates based on all of the information. Each individual positive case of the Coronavirus took a few hours to resolve and, during certain periods, we were having to make decisions about sending full year groups back onto remote learning.

The other huge difficulty, of course, was staffing. In normal times, if a member of staff is off ill, it usually lasts a day or two and it is possible to cover that teacher’s lessons through the generosity of time of other teachers in the school. However, during this period, individual members of staff were off for up to 10 days at a time, and there were times when about a quarter of the teaching staff were isolating at home.

How did you feel when the January 2021 lockdown hit?

This was a frustrating period for everyone. In terms of how we were running the remote education of pupils, I was actually quite relaxed, as it had run smoothly before. Also, from a purely personal point of view, it did mean a break from the track and trace work that we were having to do on an almost daily basis.

My biggest worry at this point was the uncertainty about the examinations. We had already had one challenging assessment process in the summer of 2020, which resulted in Teacher Assessed Grades. This had been poorly handled by the Department for Education and Ofqual and there was a great deal of speculation about what system would be implemented for the summer 2021 GCSE and A Level qualifications. Unfortunately, this uncertainty was not resolved until well into the second half of the Spring Term.

Overall, what was the hardest part of COVID for you?

I have to say that I was very lucky. My family remained safe and well during the whole period from the first lockdown through to stage of ‘living with COVID’. And so, the difficulties around managing my work life and doing the best for my wife and young children are very small compared to the many families who tragically lost loved ones. For me, the hardest part of COVID was tension of trying to do the best for my family and children at home, but trying also to do my job to the best of my ability at the same time. It was very difficult to accept that my attention to these two parts of my life had to be separated, and that focus on one at any given time required some adjustment of the other.

Dr Smith, Head of Year, Teacher of History and Politics:

We had to create year group ‘bubbles’ and to find ways of keeping them separated from each other. And so we had different indoor spaces for each year group at break times and lunchtimes and marked areas of the field for year groups to play in.

As a teacher of History and Politics there was an element of the pandemic that I found fascinating in terms of its effect, not only on our daily lives, but on how it may shape our futures and the way in which we view the world. Of course, everyone’s main concern was staying safe and trying to prevent the spread of such a horrific virus, but at the same time I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not this would make us fundamentally question the nature of our interactions with other human beings and also the planet itself. Panic about who had touched what food item, what an item of clothing’s country of origin was, how we imported goods that we had come to consider essential; together with an appreciation for the people who made all this happen, caused me to wonder whether or not COVID would actually make us think of an alternative way of organising our societies. It seemed that simple things such as reading, exercise, cooking and eating local produce, spending time with family over a board game or walk perhaps, would get us to reconsider what was important in life.

I also felt that there seemed to be a strange inversion within typical social hierarchies, all of a sudden there was no organised sport, no pubs or cafés to meet up with friends or institutions of exercise or study available; for those literate in IT, the night time computer game player, the technophiles amongst us it seemed like this was the rise of an alternative order - I can’t say that I felt at home in this!

School life at this time reflected these conflicting emotions, having more independence over time keeping was something I was used to when studying for my PhD, so I found it easy to plan work and exercise and didn’t need much structure.

The fact that there were a few teachers in school helped and it was actually a lot of fun to be able to run around the beautiful school grounds, have a sneaky play of the piano in the Main Hall, read something new, or go to a quiet gym; I had found a nice state of homeostasis.

It goes without saying that the best thing about being a teacher are the interactions with the pupils and they couldn’t be replicated online. I did also really feel for a generation of young men and women who were having to navigate their school life through such difficult circumstances and I think probably the best thing about the lockdown restrictions being over was seeing the joy that pupils had meeting up with their friends once again.

Certainly there were some skills that I shall take away from this, there is definitely a place for a Zoom meeting and technology can really enhance learning. But more than anything this period showed to me that the most important things in life are often the simplest and that is something that we perhaps lose sight of in the high pressured environment that is modern western civilisation.

The fact that there were a few teachers in school helped and it was actually a lot of fun to be able to run around the beautiful school grounds, have a sneaky play of the piano in the Main Hall, read something new, or go to a quiet gym; I had found a nice state of homeostasis.

“COVID was very difficult for me working in the hospital. At first I had to go to work at Castle Hill Hospital where the rules were very strict. You had to wear a mask 24/7 and wipe down your workspace every few hours. Soon after COVID hit I was able to work from home using a laptop, but I really struggled as it wouldn’t connect to the Wi-Fi! I was really busy as all operations were cancelled so I had to inform all the patients.”

Glenda (Lucy’s mum)

Recollections

Dear Diary,

Recollections: Lower School:

Recollections: Parents:

“When COVID hit nothing really changed for me as a farmer. I was able to work normally at the farm. The demand for crops increased drastically which was good for me as I received a higher income, but overall it didn’t really affect me.”

David (Lucy’s dad)

“The first wave of COVID was a very stressful time for me. It disturbed me greatly reading about so many people dying. I was worried about me or my family catching it. But I also have good memories, not having to travel to work, being able to spend more time with family, not rushing around from one place to another. I remember the completely empty main roads if we ever went out to collect groceries. Also, I fondly remember the various things we cooked and baked because we couldn’t go out to eat or buy stuff.”

Roopa (Lydia’s mother)

Where do I start? It’s all so overwhelming! We’re not allowed out of our houses, except for one piece of exercise a day or shopping for necessities. I can’t see my friends and I miss them. Online school is cool, especially on Zoom; it is very funny! Weekends and holidays are getting boring. We’re not getting set much work, so there’s not too much to keep me busy. All music lessons are on Zoom. Piano is on the ‘phone. Singing isn’t happening. I’m missing life with freedom and the choice to travel and see people. You don’t realise how important a human touch or conversation is

“I don’t think lockdown affected me much working in the fresh produce industry as demand was higher as more people chose to cook at home. I wasn’t worried too much about the virus as I had faith in our great NHS! It was lovely being at home spending more time with family, my day to day work didn’t change much because I was considered a key worker. What I did miss was meeting buyers and people, not just being able to just shake someone’s hand was very odd for me!”

Robin (Emily’s Dad) until you’re deprived of it. Oh well! Not much we can do except hope. ‘See you in the near future.’

Parul Kotwal

To be honest, being at home whilst doing school work has been OK for me. I quite like the fact that you’ve got the opportunity to do things. But I do think it’s bad that we’re sat in front of the computer for the whole day and that you’re stuck at home not able to do anything. Like we can only go outside for exercise once so that’s no visiting friends, no bike rides, no fun activities. I think that’s the bad part about all this: that we’ve got to stay inside. It’s boring to be honest. I guess it will be quite good when we go back though, because we’ll be able to see everybody and I think we’ll appreciate everything more. That’s probably the learning curve from all this.

Ollie Brimble

These are strange and confusing times and I believe that this will take a long time to be over. Online schooling is going well though and there are benefits to me personally as I can exercise more and technology does enable me to talk with my friends. It is weird though to be in an uncertain time like this, but I believe we’ll be OK.

Recollections: Students:

Even those who have lost loved ones will hopefully be able to get back to their original mental state. It is still a mystery of how this entire thing started, but the two main conspiracies are China bat-eating, which contained this virus or that they created some kind of chemical weapons. I hope that none of these are true obviously and I hope that this is very easy to cure at some stage. I don’t know when my life will turn back to normal, but I’m confident it will be in the foreseeable future. Many people have got this virus, even Boris Johnson, yet I think it will be over soon.

Matty Cutts

School was flipped upside down when we were locked down! Zoom lessons became the new norm with technical difficulties becoming a regular occurrence. But, through the issues, everyone got on with it and it mostly went well. Sitting outside on Zoom with the sun shining was pleasant, although it was difficult not integrating (sic) with the outside world. I had COVID at the end of Year 12 and the most frustrating thing was being locked up again. The illness was similar to a cold.

Charlie Phillips, Sixth Former, Class of 2022.

During the pandemic, I was lucky to have most of my family in Lincolnshire with me and lived at home with my Mum and my Grandma. Throughout that time, my sister was still in York so I didn’t see her in person until her birthday, which was really hard. Two of us in my household were told to shield. However, we were very lucky.

I spent most of my days outside in the garden (1st lockdown) and walking my dogs. I also did some of the lessons outside and enjoyed not having the pressure of school as it brought my family closer together in enjoying the time that we had.

Grace Sargent, Sixth Former, Class of 2022.

Great time! Exams got cancelled. More time for X-Box. Only having to do the bare minimum work. Never got COVID. Family had a great time. Got a dog, watched Netflix all day. Watched sport. Harry Gosling, Sixth Former, Class of 2022.