The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is the biggest health crisis to occur for generations, and it is having impacts on the lives of people across the world. The pandemic and the measures which have been taken to address are also having a long-term impact on the mental health of many young people - especially students. Academic attainment is highly important but how can we prevent it from being negatively impacted? I interviewed a seventeen year old living in London to see how her schooling was during the pandemic.

 

 

Q: Do you think your well-being and mental health has worsened as a result of the pandemic?

 

A: Yes, to a certain extent. Before the pandemic, I think that social interaction and communication were taken for granted. Once returning to physical school it was awkward and tricky to socialise ‘normally’. I felt anxious and unaware when returning to school as the classroom way of learning was not reflected onto online school, it was strange to see how much school changed and to follow the guidelines at the same time. When returning it felt as if I was reliving my first day of school. 

 

 

Q: How did you find exams during covid?

 

A: The alternatives that we did to GCSES were unexpected, I had always expected to do the typical GCSES - have one chance and then receive that grade. However, with covid it was a completely different situation, at times I didn’t know if I even was going to do exams or not due to the constant changing situations of covid. Everyone had to adapt even the teachers. We had cycle assessments instead which didn’t exceed 1 hour, in comparison to a typical 1½ hour exam. We even received three chances if we weren’t satisfied with our grades. In addition, we did mocks - which were very similar to what a real GCSE would be like. My mental health struggled as it was so vague to what was going to happen and I feared how everything would turn out. I feel as if I will never know how I would’ve done in a real GCSE.

 

 

Q: How is school post-lockdown?

 

A: I feel that the pandemic is still affecting our lives as students. It has implemented so many rules that have restricted us from doing things such as going library whenever we want.