Bella Nelson: I immediately texted my friends to arrange to meet up with them – I missed that so much.

Chloe Gibson: Hanging out with my friends, having a sleepover and just being able to go everywhere like getting an ice cream, and watching movies with my friends.

 

Tori Gibson: It is so great to be able to do things like going shopping and getting ice cream with friends. I also like doing nails and I’m able to do my friends’ nails again and drive around town with my sister and friends listening to music in the car.

Alex Warren: For my family and community. I’m sick of this lockdown and everyone needs to do their part.

 

Gemma Bradbury: To protect my family and community. I thought it was the right thing to do. Getting vaccinated was a very smooth, easy and efficient process.

 

Patrick Jones and Jason Lowe:
Patrick: To get the state back up and be able to go on holidays and travel.
Jason: I just want to go back to the pub and see friends again.

 

Erin Freeman: Mainly to protect myself, my family and the people I love. It was an easy decision for me, and the process what pretty good, quick and easy for the second jab.

 

Zayne Ehsman: My parents made me do it, and I want to go out again and play footy – what I miss the most during lockdown.

 

Rhiannon White: To help protect vulnerable people, especially my in-laws, and to hopefully come out of lockdown. I really miss seeing my family and friends.

 

Emma Gardener: To not only protect myself, but also my family and the Parkes community. Lock-down is having a large effect on our community and the way back to normality is to get vaccinated.

Josh Winter: The biggest challenge for me is not having verbal interaction with my teachers, although Zoom calls do help a lot as you can talk to them online. I found that by keeping up with all my schoolwork it helps me under lockdown because it reduces all the stress that I am under. I hope things get under control with COVID for next year for the Year 11s when they prepare for their HSC in a better way than what we had to go through this year.

 

Anouk Labuschagne: Unfortunately, COVID brought on so many challenges to overcome. For example, online trial exams, Zoom meetings and the constantly changing HSC date, but the biggest one was and still remains to be, procrastination. It took a state-wide lockdown for me to realise that my school’s strict phone policy existed for a reason. Technology is the greatest cultivator of procrastination – why should I study for the HSC when I can just surf the web? But a mindset like that doesn’t produce good results and I knew I had to make a change. Just because I am at home doesn’t mean that school simply disappears. I decided to recreate a school structure, no phones from 9am to 3pm, stick to my timetable and only take breaks that I would’ve had if I was at school. I feel my preparation for the HSC has greatly benefited from this mindset!

Jorja Mann: Preparing for Year 12 HSC exams is daunting enough without COVID, so lockdown and online learning have added to the pile of stress. I have always been very motivated and determined to achieve good marks. However, after completing our trial HSC exams online and being informed that our final HSC has been delayed until November, I am starting to become very resentful towards the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), as well as our premier, who are pushing for these exams to go ahead. Like many other Year 12 students, completing my final weeks of Year 12 in my bedroom and not being able to connect face to face with teachers and friends, has posed an enormous challenge to my motivation and mental health. Some mornings I am tempted to stay in bed and not attend any classes at all, or I am too distracted by my phone and social media to remain concentrated. I have started to adopt a negative mentality and attitude of ‘who cares’ and ‘it’s not going to matter’, which is not usually something I would say. Therefore, my biggest challenge has been maintaining my motivation. Whilst I’ve been making an effort to wake up early to attend all five periods every day and sticking to a routine, I do not feel like I am preparing for the HSC. I hope my assessment marks and trial HSC result will be enough to gain me acceptance into university. Whilst it does not seem possible at the moment, I hope that sometime next term my friends and I will be able to have a graduation ceremony to celebrate our 13 years of schooling.

Paul Brown: I think the biggest challenge is making sure you are doing your best to engage every student. Not everybody learns the same way, so you have to deliver a variety of different learning experiences so that everyone has the best chance to engage with learning. As a music teacher this can be hard when not every student has an instrument at home and you want to encourage your students to practise a song. I’ve instead been offering songs to learn on instruments as well as showing students how to use technology to make music. It has been a pleasure seeing some of the creative work that has come out of students (particularly at Parkes Christian School) when they are allowed to spend more time on the subjects that they love. The nature of at-home learning means that even though we provide the learning experiences with students, they can spend as much or as little on a task, which for some students, they can be more creative and produce something that shows their understanding of a topic in a deeper way.

Ronel van Wyk with Le-Rie and AJ: The challenges are keeping the kids focused and motivated to complete their work. I’m a high school teacher and now I have to be a Year 1 teacher – LOL. The kids miss their friends a lot and playing with them. The pleasures are having all this precious time with my kids, the one-on-one learning experience, being able to see my children grow in their knowledge on a daily basis, and being able to create my own outdoor learning experiences with my kids! We can go for numerous walks and playtimes at the park.

Roxanne Gallacher: My favourite lockdown activity has been games night with my extended family. We all jump on Zoom and play various games together using our phones! Some of our favourites are Trivia on Kahoot! (an online quiz game), Jack-Box (for this you need a Playstation for someone to host the game) and Gartic (GarticPhone.com) which is like a cross between Chinese Whispers and Pictionary. At the moment it is so important to maintain connections with people, physical isolation is one thing, but emotional and mental isolation is much more damaging. So connect, make that call, do a video chat, send an email, take a picture of something that brings you joy and share it with someone else. And be kind, we are all in this together.

 

Lea Orr: We have just moved house after 40 years on the farm! So this lockdown is perfect for uninterrupted sorting and unpacking! Plus full use of garbage service too!

 

Bronte O’Shannessy: I have been doing heaps of baking and have perfected my cookie recipe.
Tom Morrison: My favourite thing has been eating all Bronte’s cooking!!

 

Maureen Massey: I’m getting some mosaic projects underway. All our hockey Australian championships have been cancelled. So, between retirement, no hockey and COVID… I would go crazy if I didn’t have mosaics!

 

Another of maureen’s mosaic creations. She made garden pavers for each of her grandchildren.

 

Oscar Hendry (Year 4):
Best: Every now and then you can have a break and get some fresh air outside in this beautiful weather. Worst: You can’t go out and see your friends.

George Hendry (Year 2):
Best: You can work at your own pace, so if you finish your school book quickly, you can spend time doing other things. Worst: If you have a little brother or sister, it’s hard to do your work. My little sister is a big distraction! It’s also tempting to play games and not do work when Mum and Dad are busy working… so it takes a lot of concentration to do my school work. Oh and I had to spend my birthday in lock-down on Wednesday…

Gloria Hendry (Pre-School):
Best: Staying at home with my family. Worst: I miss my friends at PECC. My brothers are busy doing school work and don’t have time to play with me, and Mum and Dad are busy working.

Eileen Newport: I’ve had my first one and had no side effects. The next one is due on the 19th of October. I thought about it for a long time before I went for the first jab. I decided it was the right thing to do for everyone’s sake.

 

Rosemary Prior: I’ve had my first shot and only had a sore arm. The second one is due at the end of the month. As we enjoy travelling in our caravan, my husband and I both decided it was the right thing to do for safety’s sake. I’m encouraging all my family to do the same thing as this virus is not going to go away any time soon. It is very important to get the vaccine.

Rachel, Jacob and Ryan Swindle: Trees make oxygen for us to breathe, and they create habitats for animals. We like the old trees at the farm as they give us shaded shelter.

 

Narelle Phizarro: The fact that a tiny seed can create an amazing future!

 

Amy, Sophie and Hamish McGrath: Trees give us oxygen and provide habitats for animals.

Ben Lam: I’ve done sport all my life so I enjoy the swimming, soccer and weight lifting. It is also great to see the water polo as you don’t get to see much of it outside of the Olympics.

 

George Pratt: I enjoy the shooting, but unfortunately they don’t show very much of it.

 

Hedley Nicholson AOM: I watch the tennis (Helen will kill me if I don’t…!), hockey and also equestrian as I used to have horses.