Lockdown Stories Havering young people on life in lockdown
Life in Lockdown As we come out of COVID-19 government restrictions, we’ve been asking children and young people what lockdown life was like for them. It wasn’t all schoolwork and Netflix. Here, some of the young people in our borough share their inspirational stories written during lockdown and more recently – stories of creativity, resilience and building up their skills. I’d like to say a huge thank you to each of them. I hope these stories will allow us to learn from our young people, their coping mechanisms and how their creativity and talent has helped them through a very difficult time. Kind regards, Councillor Robert Benham Havering Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families
We start with eight-yearold Oliver who recorded this short video.
Click here to watch my film
2020 - A year to remember Covid-19 was a pandemic that started in December, It changed everything: 2020’s a year we’ll all remember. It was the year we were stuck inside, The outside world we were forced to leave behind.
We went crazy about not going on public transport, Unable to go out because of the invisible battle we fought. The virus has gone on for a year now, quite a while, But despite the pain and suffering, we still managed to smile. We made rainbows to support keyworkers and the NHS, It helped keep their spirits up, regardless of the distress. We also applauded them for being so brave, And for risking their lives to keep us safe.
People like Sir Captain Tom raising money for charity, Good deeds like his helps us realise that we should have a positive mentality. As things worsened, the virus, like none we’d ever seen, Doctors soon came up with the idea of a vaccine. Although lockdown is easing, we should stay at home as much as possible, We should listen to the rules and make sure that we’re responsible. We’ll be able to visit friends and family very soon, Hopefully by sometime this year, in May or June.
Alayna, Age 13
Lockdown First it started, As a small tab on Bing,
Then suddenly, Everybody’s talking,
Locked inside our homes, The poor little computer, Tired of going on chrome,
Birds still flutter, Across the sky Not a fly, Interrupting their eyes that pry,
What are we doing, Locked inside our homes, What are we doing,
Locked like the Beast’s rose?
Aryan N, Year 5
N g n e i tball k & a B It feels like I’ve been in lockdown for months now, I’m so bored of not being able to g o shopping and seein g my friends. The bright side is, it’s my birthday in a wee k, although I’ll only be spending it w ith my mum, dad an d two sisters. I’ve been making so many new foods late ly – cookie dough, cupcakes, gingerbrea d and Welsh cakes an d carrot cake. They all tasted ok except fo r the carrot cake. I ac cidentally used bicarbonate of soda in stead of baking powde r so it had a weird taste.
I also tried to write a book but it didn’t wor k out so well because I ended up deleting th e Word document I ha d typed it on. Me and my dad star ted playing netball m ore often outside the house and I’ve im proved by a lot. From my footwork to my shooting skills, it al l paid off because I g ot into the netball team in the above me (the under 13s) where I play goalkeeper.
Elsie, age 11
Guitar during lockdown Before lockdown, I did guitar lessons at school once a week with 2 other children. I didn’t get as much practice in, because I did other clubs and didn’t have enough time. During lockdown I have got a lot better at guitar because I have had lots more time to practice. I don’t have as many clubs to focus on so I can focus on guitar. I have also had more help from my parents because my mum and dad have had more spare time, and have helped me after home schooling because they know what I am working on. I have been doing Zooms with my guitar teacher Mr Howard, and that is better because I can concentrate a bit more and it is only me, not 2 other people. Because I have had time to practice more, I am now almost ready to complete my Grade 1 exam. I have learnt three songs; my favourite is Lotus Flower. Right now, I am working on scales, which I need to learn off by heart for my exam. I really enjoy guitar, and I want to do better. It makes me smile and happy when I learn new things.
Harry, age 10
Being isolated at home for months upon end affected many people. However, lockdown had its positives. We all appreciated family time more and learnt beneficial technology skills. I put my technology skills to good use, and founded a non-profit called ‘Based In Science’. Based In Science encourages more youth from Kosovo (my home country) and the UK into STEMrelated (Science, technology, engineering and maths) careers. I created an international team of young people (ages 13-19) who all help organise virtual events and curating resources. Every event we create is free because I believe that money should not stop you from pursuing a career. I created Based In Science because I noticed there are no STEM opportunities for students in Kosovo. I wanted to be the first to link Kosovar students and UK students, all with mutual love for STEM. Throughout lockdown, our team grew from 3 to 21 members, and we developed our video conferencing skills weekly through Zoom. I also had the opportunity to reinforce my leadership skills and continue socialising through virtual, international meet-ups. Not only did I help myself develop my confidence and social interaction skills, but I also provided students with opportunities they never would have had from schools.
Ideja, age 17
Addressing mental health I’m Jazzminejada George. I’m 14 years old, a member of London Youth Assembly and Havering Youth Council. In March 2021, I had a roundtable discussion with the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) and the Deputy Mayor of London (Joanne McCartney) on the topic of young people’s mental health. When I received the invitation from Partnership for Young London and Good Thinking to have a roundtable discussion with Sadiq Khan and Joanne McCartney, I was really excited to talk to them about the available resources to support young people and to share my perspective of how lockdown has been for me. The resources we mainly discussed to help young people with their mental well-being were: • Good thinking Website (which has lots of available resources which are approved/supported by the NHS, Public Health England, London Councils, Mayor of London and Thrive London) • Feeling Good (Positive mindset app) • Apart Of Me (Grieving app) • Combine Minds app (App which provides practical strategies for supporting young people mental health) I really enjoyed the roundtable, it went extremely well. It was interesting to hear how other people found lockdown, including the Mayor. Young people deserve to be listened to especially when it comes to their mental health so it is vital for decision makers to listen to young people.
Jazzminejada, age 14
Lockdown for me
My name is Jeremiah but everyone calls me JJ. I am eight-years-old and full of energy. But one day Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced we were going into lockdown. Wow, I thought what was this lockdown, what does it mean? I asked my mum and even she looked concerned. She explained that a flu-type bug has spread rapidly and the only way to control it is to close everything down for a good spring clean. Even though I love school, I was excited to be at home. First few days was OK but by the end of the week I started to miss my friends and family. I didn’t realise how much of an impact not seeing them would be. I was sad as I looked out the window it felt like a bad dream. My mum walked in and said son let’s draw a picture for the NHS for all their great work. This made me feel happy doing something for nice people. Trying to keep my days full of different tasks was a mission in itself. I actually was missing school. Wow, I said to myself I will never be sad when I have to go to school because it was actually a great thing. I became very creative in lockdown, I made things that I would not normally have done. I made binoculars from toilet roll and cling film. I also learnt to take hygiene extremely seriously as a simple thing like washing your hands and wearing a mask can save so many lives. Mum said this has never happened in her generation - I hope it never happens again. Stay safe, be strong - we can beat this!
Jeremiah, age 8
Leading in Lockdown Covid and the lockdown it has caused has adversely affected a range of communities and interfered with many of the plans we were all making. One thing that it has displayed to us all is the creativity we are all capable of, from learning an instrument to - one of the things I believe I achieved - becoming more adaptable to undesirable conditions. We are all managing to not allow Covid to dominate our lives, rather we took it head on with a few stumbles here and there but we continue to persevere. Throughout this time in lockdown I have picked up numerous skills, including leadership skills, which I have honed through organising Zoom meetings and ensuring the people in my school groups have received the necessary needed for particular subjects. Many of us took full advantage of the lockdown to start working out and getting into the best shape of our lives and whilst many of us started slow, bewildered at what we could and could not do, we soon understood the things that we could control and started working on that. Like many others in lockdown I’ve used the opportunity to get into running starting off small with 1k - 2k runs and progressing up to 10k, which I believe has done wonders for not only my physical health but also mental as it has allowed me to constantly make goals to reach and exceed. Some of us took the initiative of starting a new business whilst others of us were trying new looks, Covid took a lot away from us but as we look forward and remember those whose lives were cut short we can strive to better ourselves daily and eradicate Covid from our midsts.
Jay, age 17
We can continue to show courage by making sure we’re individually following guidelines and maintaining discipline in our day-to-day, this community effort will surely see us back to the normality we all so desperately desire.
During lockdown many things happened... The whole of lockdown I helped my mum with my little brother and sister. My little sister is two and I always helped my mum look after her, calm her down when she was crying and make her food. My little brother turned one during lockdown and he has a problem where he just SCREAMS SO LOUD!!! So when he used to scream I used to dance around and just play with him. One of my favourite things that happened during lockdown was me and my stepdad got closer. One day me and my stepdad (Richard) went to a forest/park thing called The Manor, and we went into lakes and ran around in mud! It was really fun, but the best thing that happened at The Manor was when I was running through a puddle and fell in it. Anyways, many more things happened in lockdown but they were the two things that stuck out to me.
Kaycee, age 10
C y h r e aos! k o & Co During lockdown I learned how to bake with my dad since he took cookery for GCSE. I baked many things: brownies, cookies, lemon drizzle cake, carrot cake and more. I didn’t like baking so much when I was younger but when I made something in Year 7 Food Technology (I think it was easier in lockdown), I really enjoyed it. After a week or something, I made some carrot cake. I don’t really like carrot cake so much, but my brother really likes it. I think it’s his favourite. Then I starte d to bake a lot more stuff like cupcakes from scratch and it really worke d out. They tasted so sweet and delicious.
Another thing I got during the third lockdown was a pet. Her name is Ella and we got her midDecember last year and she will be four months on Saturday, 3 April. Ella is a Jack Russell Terrier and she is super cute. When we first got her from the breeder, you could fit her in the palm of your hand. She was very tiny and very nervo us when we got her home. But she settle d with us very quick ly. She was eight weeks old when we first got her. She really enjoys her walks now, but at first she was very scare d, but now she is chaos!
Lauren, age 12
My Lockdown Calendar Tori, age 14
ng. A pandemic A new virus uprisi ey. turned the world gr st, or would we la to g in go is th Was soon be ok?
March
starting m ’ I ; g tirin g more n s. i t t e g y friend It’s m s s i m inding. to w d n a , g nel’s lon er end. This tun ’ll nev I fear it
May
Talks of easing lockdown have us feeling alive. T he sun’s out a n d so is school, liberati on is nigh.
July nt t it’s differe u b k c a b is l Schoo normality, r fo e ir p s a t s w. now. We mu n’t know ho though I do
September
more Lockdown 2’s bleaker and and morale upsetting. Mental health tting. are having everybody fre
November
Communities c ome together, though at least two metres ap art. What’s that old saying? Conne cted not by distanc e but by heart .
April
The conflict in America has set the world ablaze. Black lives matter always and forever; say their names.
June Have we taken these few free doms too far? Cases are on the rise again, this new Norm al’s bizarre.
August el was shortThe end of the tunn more dangerous lived but now it’s e NHS see no than ever. The brav g better. sign of this gettin
October
Although we a re still locked down; we have finall y reached the end. Here’s to 2021 , to the new aro und the bend.
December