Student, Sophie, speaks movingly about the vulnerability brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic:
I am new to Open Academy. As part of my induction, an opportunity was given to me within months of starting, to join with some of the most wonderful faith and education leaders from across England.
As an author of science textbooks, my expertise in teaching was to be linked with the wisdom of faith leaders to create new resources to be used in schools for assemblies and reflections as part of the Faith at Home initiative.
Then lockdown happened.
Suddenly we were, as the whole nation, thrown into new circumstances. Andy Wolfe, Deputy Chief Education Officer for the Church of England set us all a challenge: to create resources to support the Oak National Academy initiative. This is the government-backed online classroom and resource hub, supporting teachers, pupils and parents at school and at home, across the country. We have created resources for teaching in schools, dealing less with curriculum and more with personal development within a Christian framework.
Year 11 student Sophie shares her mixed emotions of the impact of lockdown in the assembly video on the theme of vulnerability: “An entire year group of children is lost. We didn’t get a “last day” to say good-bye to the friends we spent five years growing up alongside. I’m scared of what I’m meant to do now… But somehow this virus has given me an odd sense of freedom too…” (see 3:56 minutes into the video).
Our wonderful students stepped up to the mark. Rather than simply supporting this latest assembly, the words of our students became the central theme. They are so full of emotion, empathy and pathos.
They showed better than anyone else we have heard how this pandemic and the decisions of leaders have impacted their lives. Our students demonstrated the strength that comes from being vulnerable. I am prouder of the students than they can imagine.
You can see the resources we have helped with here.