Member stories

Riley found the pandemic lonely and isolating, worsening their already struggling mental health. Often feeling fearful about what was happening in the world and what this meant for them, Riley found that whilst the pandemic brought people together to support each other in some respects, they felt a lack of support from their school in dealing with the situation.

This was compounded by their experience of learning from home, saying that for them “remote learning didn’t really exist”. They were sent work but there was no online teaching or support during the first lockdown which Riley found intense and lonely, with no one to help, saying that they “struggled with my mental health before the pandemic but with the added stress on top it became a lot to handle”.

When it came to the third lockdown, they did then have access to online lessons, but found that this also wasn’t ideal due to issues with technology rarely working. They felt they were constantly falling behind. It was clear that this situation was draining for both the pupils and staff at their school saying, “our teachers were deflated and so were we”.

Therefore, it is clear a range of catch-up was needed to get these students, including Riley, back on track. However, this was not the case.

I feel like we never really got to catch up. During Year 11, we had the standard revision sessions before and after school but that was all. Some of us were supposed to get extra help with tutors but that never actually happened.

Riley argues that those from low-income backgrounds who have been affected most should get more support around catching up prior to their exams after their heightened experiences of COVID-19.

Emma describes her experience during the pandemic as one of “uncertainty, chaos and confusion”. Her mother sadly lost her job, and while she was on furlough for a few months, this did not continue and led to concerns for her family. This compounded with the rising costs we are now seeing has meant that they have had to cut back on a lot of things, meaning Emma continues to miss out on experiences even as restrictions have eased.

Speaking about her mental health during the pandemic, Emma said: “It felt like I was missing out on the teenage experience. A part of growing up is about creating certain experiences with friends, and instead I now associate that with isolation and restrictions”.

Emma felt privileged that she had good Wi-Fi and access to a device to work on when learning remotely, however, given her parents educational background, she felt she struggled to go to them for help with schoolwork in a way that some of her peers with more educated parents could. She did have some online provision provided by her school, however, the range of abilities in the class and disruption by other pupils meant that she felt she wasn’t learning through these sessions and was missing out on key higher-level content.

On top of this, Emma says she did not receive any catch-up support, with students expected to fill any gaps independently before being tested on them. Because of this, Emma decided not to pursue A-level Mathematics, as she felt so far behind and did not want to start a new course with the gaps in her knowledge of the GCSE content, illustrating the impact that remote learning and a lack of catch-up support can have on students’ future plans.

Isadora struggled during the pandemic, with the closure of her school and move to remote learning affecting her mental health and wellbeing. Being isolated from friends and family was something she really struggled with and the change to her education left her feeling unsupported and lonely.

Fortunately, Isadora had access to a device and a quiet space to work from, as well as a good internet connection. However, she found the level and amount of independent learning challenging, especially not being able to separate her work from her rest time as all of it was done from home. She said: “I found it impossible to complete all the work within the designated one hour and would often work for longer than necessary.” The lack of any structured lessons throughout the first lockdown and reduced contact with teachers meant that Isadora felt like she was struggling a lot more than her friends at other schools.

Isadora admits that she did not catch up with the work that she missed over lockdown, finding this to be her downfall during internally set GCSE exams, as there were topics that she had never studied that came up on the papers. She was offered some catch-up sessions but did not find these particularly useful as they had to cover many months of work in a very short amount of time, and these were often in very big groups where you could not get individual support from the teacher running the session.

This meant that Isadora did not want to pursue the subjects that she felt she missed out on the most at A-level, shaping her subject choices and as a result, her options for the future as well.

Hemlata’s experience of growing up during the Covid-19 pandemic, going into lockdown at just age 15, has had a significant effect on her life and development. She said “life has never really been the same since”. She is also conscious of how much Covid has had an impact on how those younger than her have developed and how their relationships have changed.

It was not only personal relationships that were affected by the pandemic but also her experience of school and learning. Hemlata said: “I feel lucky that I had the resources to take part most of the time, but I feel like school was way too harsh on students in this time”. She found that long school days spent on screens learning remotely affected her wellbeing, saying more encouragement to go outside, exercise and take care of themselves was needed.

Hemlata was also disappointed at the lack of enrichment opportunities she had as a result of the pandemic, missing out on school trips and other activities to supplement the overall academic experience that she and her peers were used to.

After spending more time at home studying during the pandemic, Daniel discovered his passion for economics, which he plans to go on to study next year. But the cost-of-living crisis has shaped his future plans in a different way. Daniel would now like to study a degree apprenticeship as during his gap year the cost of everything has risen considerably. Daniel said “I haven’t had the luxury of always being able to ask my parents for money, so experiencing the cost-of-living crisis has pushed me to get a job and be able to afford the things that I want.”

Combined with the effects of social isolation during the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis has also impacted Daniel’s mental wellbeing. He has felt pressure to get a job and has started to fear all of his savings may run out, leaving Daniel unable to do things he enjoys. Although he wasn’t initially planning to take a gap year, Daniel is using this time to enjoy his hobbies, relax and reflect on what he wants to do with his future.

Daniel previously wanted to work in finance as he thought this would set him up well financially for the future. This is important to Daniel as he has grown up in a low-income household. But now he has his eyes set on the tech sector: “Seeing how technology has become integrated into our lives due to the pandemic has made me want to work within this sector as I admire the flexibility, which would allow me to have a healthier work-life balance.”