In our latest Lockdown Diary we hear from Will Thomas, who is currently in Upper 5. He shares with us how he is coping being at home and how he misses rehearsing with his band. 

"My experience of lockdown has been varied but mostly good. At first, I enjoyed being at home, having lots of spare time and being able to adapt to the new circumstances with lots of new exciting routines. As I got further into the lockdown, I realised how important staying connected with friends and family is and started calling up some friends for a chat and spending some more time with my family.

Learning online at the start of lockdown was odd, not having face to face interactions, but as time went on and I got into the swing of things it has been easier to focus in lessons and keep on task. I think for me it has been a lot easier overall to learn online as I can stay focused as there are little distractions. I would recommend taking regular breaks in-between lessons to do something enjoyable such as playing an instrument or having a nice snack so that you are ready for the following lesson. I have enjoyed widening my range of snacks as the lockdown has gone on. I have also played a lot of chess online against my cousin and it has been very entertaining with some close matches and some great laughs.

During lockdown the thing that I have missed the most is meeting up with the band. Switching from rehearsing in the same room and playing our songs regularly, to recording separately and assembling songs remotely, has been really weird. Rehearsing together will be the thing that I am most looking forward to doing once lockdown is over.

I found that having a form of daily exercise really helps with maintaining mental stability. Getting into a good routine of getting outside once a day is something that I would highly recommend if you can. I take my dogs out for a walk every day and now, I really look forward to that part of my day as it is a good time to reset mentally after school. It is also a good chance to listen to some new music that I would never normally have the time to do.

I think that being in this lockdown has made me realise that being at school and having time to chat with friends is really important and I can’t wait to be back at school, but I will miss my slippers."