Students who entered their crucial year 11 and 12 studies from home said discipline was key to keeping on top of learning remotely.
The Beaudesert Bulletin caught up with Beaudesert High school captains Brooke Jeffrey and Nathaniel Cocks as they forged ahead from home.
Despite the delay (due to a surge in Covid cases, the start of the school year was pushed back to 7 February and senior students started home learning on 31 January) their spirits were high.
In an ideal world, Brooke Jeffrey and Nathaniel Cocks would have started year 12 surrounded by their peers and teachers at Beaudesert High.
But as highlighted by the global pandemic over the last two years, we don’t live in an ideal world and being adaptable is key to keeping upbeat and living our lives the best way we can.
As they entered year 12 learning from home, school captains Brooke and Nathaniel led by example, showing adaptability in the face of yet another Covid disruption.
The Beaudesert Bulletin caught up with both students in their home learning environments to gain insights into how they were handling the unusual start to the year.
Brooke, who set up at her dad’s comfortable home desk with her 5-year-old Boxer x Staffy, Tash, at her feet, said creating a routine for yourself was important.
“My reward is if I’ve smashed my work out earlier, I can have a bit more ‘me’ time, but the downside is missing the social aspect of being in the classroom,” she said.
Nathaniel, who is also doing a Cert II in Electro-Technology and wants to be an electrician, said it was important to stay motivated.
“You want to do your personal best. I’m not going for an ATAR, but this is my final year and I still just want to get the best marks I can,” he said.
“It’s different not having the teachers physically there – you’ve got emails, but it’s not the same as in person, where you’ve got other students around and it keeps you accountable.
“It’s not how I wanted to start the year both as school captain and a year 12 student, but we’re just looking forward and making the most of this final year of school.”
Brooke, who wants to become a primary school teacher, commended teachers for helping students succeed through Covid.
“We have a lot of Zoom calls with our teachers, who are working so hard to help us get through and interacting with us constantly. We’re very lucky to have that support,” she said.
“Hopefully by the time I’m in teaching I won’t ever have to teach from home, but I suppose now I’ve lived through it I could if anything like this ever happens in the future.”
“Even though it’s not normal, we’re getting used to it as crazy as it seems.”
