Page 30 - Androvian2021

28 | BOARDING
HOME COMFORTS
The boarders can look back on another school year with pride.The children achieved so much together, as a unit, but they also developed as individuals in what was another disruptive and challenging year.
In the autumn term we welcomed new and returning pupils to Colstocks.They bedded in to the school and boarding routines well and thoroughly enjoyed trips to Go-Ape, paintballing, Bowles Activity Centre and Buzz Active Water Sports before the government sadly tightened restrictions in November and closed local attractions.And then,in December,quarantine regulations tightened further in a number of the boarders’ home countries and much of the final week was spent ferrying them to Heathrow for rapid PCR tests, required for the children to board planes to get home.
In January we were keenly getting ready for a big welcome
back to the boarders but our plans were scuppered by Boris Johnson’s announcement of a second national lockdown which included the shutting of schools.This created complications for our boarders. Some pupils were already staying with guardians in the country, while others were, literally,at the airport waiting to board flights to the UK.
And so ensued a remarkably busy 24 hours of management and communication to ensure those pupils who had yet to embark on their journeys to the UK would complete their studies online at home while the six children already in the country without a parent (or a child whose parents were key