Page 54 - Herioter 2021

JANUARY

New year day as closely as possible. That meant morning learning would be no mere blip in a snowy
assemblies – including a lockdown pet show for
January; it would become an almost term-long
way of life that would last until spring.
those in S1 – followed by normal timetabled
– new lessons that were punctuated by the usual breaks. Mr Jonny Muir
Firefly and Teams were once again the
mediums for remote learning, with pupils able to
lockdown log on to check what meetings they might have
on a given day and to see what work had been
set. The use of Teams also enabled pupils to
receive quick responses to queries and questions,
as well as teachers’ feedback on completed
The story of January begins on December tasks. The work on the pages that follow, from
19, hours after Heriot’s had broken up for the sonnet-writing in S2 to creating tartan in P7, gives
Christmas holidays. a flavour of what pupils achieved in the difficult
A new, ‘mutant’ strain of Covid-19 was circumstances of January.
spreading across the UK, forcing plans to A tranche of pupils – those designated as
allow mixing and travel over Christmas to be the children of ‘key’ workers in Nursery to S3 –
abandoned. From Boxing Day, Scotland would be remained on site, located in the refectory and
plunged back into lockdown. School Hall in what was known as Key Worker
But what about schools? Child Care (or more colloquially The Hub). The
‘We must slightly change our plans for how pupils here did exactly what their peers did at
schools operate after the Christmas period,’ the home, albeit under the jurisdiction of school staff
First Minister announced ominously. The new (and subject to the whims of wifi).
term would begin with remote learning, she January 18 came and went. Had we been
confirmed, with learning online continuing to ‘at physically at school, Higher and Advanced Higher
least’ January 18. prelims would have taken place that Monday. The
‘After that, assuming we are confident we exams were postponed and – like everything – put
have the virus under control we will aim to reopen on hold.
schools fully.’ As January came to a close, Covid-19 case
January 18? If only… numbers in Scotland were falling, but it was
And so Term 2 began remotely, with the probably best then that we did not know the full
focus on maintaining the rhythm of the school truth of the situation. For the majority, remote

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