15 Oct 2021
It’s been a big year for ACT Year 12 students, and as they return to onsite learning for Term 4 for their final weeks of schooling, many are feeling excited and optimistic for the weeks to come.
Lily is a Year 12 student at UC Senior Secondary College Lake Ginninderra, who takes a range of classes including sociology, maths methods and literature.
Like many Year 12 students she’s looking forward to completing her final year of school with her friends and attending university next year.
Unlike the Year 12 students of previous years, Lily and her cohort have spent weeks completing their schooling remotely.
With the experience of one lockdown already under their belt, Lily and her peers found that they moved smoothly back to online learning after the state-wide ACT lockdown was called back in August 2021.
While it has certainly been an adjustment, Lily found that the self-paced aspect of remote learning worked well for her.
She could utilise her time effectively, getting her assignments and work done at times where her concentration was the highest, and when she was finished, had more time to pursue hobbies and interests.
Despite being stuck in their homes for weeks, students have also found novel ways to stay connected and have a little fun!
Lily and her friends played an online game called Gartic Phone, which sees each player write the quirkiest sentence they can come up with, which is passed on to another player to interpret into a drawing.
Then, the group tries to guess one another’s drawings while on a video call together – as you can imagine, the results had the group in stitches every time!
Most of her formative assessment have taken place throughout the year, so the thought of heading back to the classroom isn’t too nerve wracking for Lily, most of all, she’s just can’t wait to get back to school to see her friends and teachers again.
Similarly, Elliot is in Year 12 at Dickson College and has also managed to strike a positive balance between her school and home life during remote learning.
She cherished the time to be more involved with her family, enjoying daily walks and meals together and playing boards games.
“My dad just came back from about a year overseas, so being able to spend plenty of time with him at home has been amazing,” said Elliot.
In addition to the extra family time, Elliot appreciates the effort that her teachers have gone to to ensure a smooth transition from face to face to online learning and to keep the students connected.
“I still find many of my teachers are making engaging content and being able to have discussions in class, while still online, gives me that extra bit of social activity that lockdown prevents in person.”
Our college students have overcome unique adversities this year, they’ve shown incredible resilience and an uncanny ability to navigate digital life.
Now that they can finally head back to the classroom for these final few weeks of their public schooling, what’s left is to catch up with their friends, farewell their beloved school and enjoy their final few weeks.