Pelangi School students, like millions of other students across the world, suddenly found their experience of schooling changed for our final quarter of the 2019-20 academic year, as a consequence of the global COVID-19 pandemic.  Our students were released for school holidays a few days earlier in mid-March in order for teachers to prepare to move their face-to-face classroom programs to an online platform.

Two weeks later, our home-based learning program began. Students and teachers were working via a hybrid online/offline materials-based program, using the Seesaw platform for our virtual classroom space and connecting through Google Meets video conferences. This was a major shift for many of our students and staff and we all learnt a lot about working in this new way.

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Students continued to learn from home for the whole quarter. At the end of the time we asked students to reflect on their time learning from home and which aspects they enjoyed, challenges they experienced and what they missed about being in school on campus. This is what they had to say:

Positives:

• I can rest for a while when I am tired.
• I liked it because I could choose what I wanted to do first and do it in any order.
• I can wear whatever I want without anyone seeing me!
• I could listen to music while in class.
• I could finish class early because I had more time to get work done.
• I got a lot better at typing because I was using a laptop for Seesaw.
• I was able to put a lot more time into my work and do a better job.
• My research skills improved a lot.
• Waking up kind of late.
• I learnt to be more independent.
• I had more time to be with my family.
• I didn’t have to wear a mask at home.
• My sister helped me so I didn’t get distracted.
• I got to use the computer every day.
• I got to spend more time with my little brother.
• I got to eat snack and lunch with my mum and dad.
• My dad supported me a lot.

Challenges:

• Some of the work took too long to complete.
• The internet connection was sometimes not good and I had trouble uploading posts when that happened.
• Sometimes the work kept piling up if I didn’t do enough on a certain day.
• I got bored easily.
• I didn’t have anyone to talk to.
• Not being able to communicate with my teachers properly.
• Not really understanding instructions sometimes.
• Doing work without my teachers.
• I couldn’t see my friends’ faces.
• I felt alone doing my work.
• I was a bit lazy doing my lessons.
• Using a computer was a challenge for me.

What students missed about being at school:

• It was so boring at home because I couldn’t play soccer like I do at school.
• The Sport Hall.
• Field trips.
• Friends, playtime and having more help.
• Everything!!
• Eating lunch with my friends.
• Playing.
• Sport.
• My classroom.
• I missed my friends and teachers.