Poem reveals Golspie High School pupils' lockdown feelings
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A POIGNANT poem has given an insight into how Golspie High School pupils are coping with isolation and lockdown.
Entitled ‘It’s so quiet out here – then I notice’, the poem was compiled by a S2 Helmsdale student after fellow pupils were asked to give a written snapshot of their feelings and experiences of lockdown.
Clive Grewcock, a children’s services worker at the school, was involved in the project and has praised pupils for their resilience and for the way they have risen to the challenge of learning in lockdown.
He said: “The poem is tremendous and very poignant.”
It came about after Mr Grewcock moved online a lunch club – called Doodles and Chill – he had previously run in school.
“Even though everyone is around online, a number of pupils were struggling with the lack of a physical school community,” said Mr Grewcock.
I decided to go virtual with Doodles and Chill to give pupils and staff a chance to link with each other, post thoughts, sketches and open up discussion.
“On April 21, a request was posted in the virtual Doodles & Chill classroom asking for comments about what pupils were seeing, feeling or experiencing during lockdown.
“The response from pupils and staff was tremendous and very poignant. Comments were also taken from those linked to Golspie High School.”
Under Mr Grewcock’s guidance, the Helmsdale student took the posts and turned them into a moving poem.
Pupils wrote about being “trapped indoors” and feeling as if they were in jail. They spoke about their communities being turned into “ghost towns” but also about hearing birdsong and about missing their colleagues, friends and family.
One line reads: “You don’t realise how soon boring life can get when you aren’t able to do the things you are normally allowed to do.”
Mr Grewcock said that the poem demonstrated how pupils had really “shone under adverse circumstances".
School Poem
Here is the full poem:
It’s so quiet out here – then I notice
Trapped indoors. It felt like being in jail.
There is no one around. The place was like
A ghost town. Haunted by elusive ghosts
Of free sunlight slithered down the long road
Slowly vanishing. It seemed very warm
Out there. But we all know, obviously
No one can experience that right now.
I’m lucky and a little bit lonely.
It’s so quiet out here –then I notice
The birdsong, so diverse and beautiful.
All is quiet, but peaceful listening to
The sharp ear splitting chirps of my budgies,
Not seeing the other people close by is
Mind shattering.
Finding that inspiration is a great thing.
You don’t realise how soon boring life
Can get when you aren’t able to do the things
You are normally allowed to do
(I’m talking, shouting, clapping about this
Coronavirus lockdown). You now pay
Attention to way more things, hoping it
Will capture, cheer you up or distract you
From what is happening in the real world.
The way sunlight wakes, moves across places
In the house. Something I have seldom seen
For some time. Looking up into branches
Of a tree, I’m reading by the window
Enjoying moments as the warm sun lights
Up the pages. Sun is bright, the wind is
Is getting warmer, Sherbie dog and horses
Being spoiled and I am slowly getting
To grips with this new way of working.
Chromebook ... Complicated technology
Receiving messages from distant friends.
Doing college work whilst re-watching my
Favourite show Riverdale on Netflix J
Eating soup, basking in the aroma
Of fresh baked bread, still doing college but
Now listening to music on Youtube
While on a welcome phone call to friends that
I miss very much … Not seeing
Family is so heartbreaking trapped in
The place I call home. Football becomes a
Distant memory, Stuck staring at a road
Making a doll and drawing some of my
OCs so I then can cosplay them later.
I really miss my colleagues, friends and
Family but smile when I think of them.
Peacefully reading here in the sun.
Warm sun on fair skin. The wind continued
To gently rattle the branches, causing
It to lean back and forth. It swatted the
Thin air. I sat there, watching carefully.
Help me. The chocolate is running out!!!
