Forgotten RHS: COVID- Molly N
My sincerest apologies to those who searched the bubble far and wide looking for the latest ‘forgotten RHS’ during the last couple of weeks- after parent’s evening I realised I should perhaps allocate some time to my studies instead of the bubble (sorry, Mr Hodson!). Anyway, I thought this week I would take you back to the years 2020-2021: COVID. So if this is a reminder or the first time hearing of it, this is what RHS was like during the pandemic…
During the 2 lockdowns of COVID, RHS made the switch to Microsoft Teams. Previously we had used FireFly and Showbie for prep/timetables. I think it’s safe to say that teams was a success, although there was briefly a version where it didn’t collate your assignments which caused quite a few ‘forgotten’ preps.
Online lessons were also an interesting experience. Some teachers decided to still teach in their classrooms, while we could have a sneak peak into the homes of others. And the occasional breakout room with your classmates was 1 out of 2 situations: either everyone would be chatting all at once about anything other than the work, or it was dead silence.
On the topic of silence, teachers often resorted to pleading students to turn their cameras on, or even just their microphones. But of course a suspiciously large number of people had ‘broken cameras’ or their ‘microphones didn’t work’. Some teachers clearly got desperate to the point that if you even did as little as fill out a worksheet or spoke you would get a merit for ‘fantastic contributions’ (I wish it was that easy to get merits now!). To quote Mrs Pearson- ‘I really enjoyed teaching online … NOT’.
Also during lockdown was the famous series, ‘Second Master Secrets’. Mr Dixon took to being a film director while showing unseen areas of the eerily empty school such as in the clocktower or in the tunnels. If you ever have a spare 5 minutes they are definitely worth a watch! (2nd Master’s Secrets – YouTube)
Between the lockdowns, RHS reopened. But not as we knew it…
Houses were divided into year groups. For the current yr13s, all day pupils were in Drake. All I can say is I’m surprised Mr Platt didn’t quit being a housemaster after putting up with over 40 yr9s!
The school was divided into blocs, with my year being in the history/geo classrooms (arguably the best corridor in school) and the roles were reversed with teachers moving to us. This led to some interesting events such as freshly made cottage pie being dropped in H14 during a maths lesson (a strange clash of subjects). And you can’t forget ‘sani bombs’. Hand sanitiser bottles were used as projectile weapons, with sanitiser flying around the classrooms or being put on chairs for unexpected victims to sit on.
I think one of the best parts of ‘COVID RHS’ was the switch from going into mess with your house, to going with your year group (which was so well-liked that it was kept). The dining hall was also extended into the Jellico so we could be distanced from the other year groups. Despite teachers trying their best to supervise all areas, I vividly remember 2 boys army crawling across the Jellico.
Finally, but definitely not least, were the RHS masks. It seems like forever ago when we had to wear masks. The current yr13s had an orange logo, with each year group having a different colour. I even saw Mr Gurur stylishly wearing the staff mask the other day!
And that’s most of what I can remember of RHS during COVID. To say the least, it was a unique experience, and although COVID was annoying, it created some very funny situations in school and some positive changes that have stuck to this day.
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