Aberdeenshire schools highlight projects that supported them through lockdown
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Pupils and schools in Aberdeenshire have continued to show how they kept their spirits up during the initial lockdown in response to coronavirus.
The creative activities ranged from pupils writing a letter to the children of the future; writing and editing their own newspaper; designing murals; redesigning the school’s badge; writing poems and singing songs.
During the first lockdown Meldrum School pupils painted a mural on the playground which saw everyone working together depicting the year, a rainbow for the NHS and the school’s badge.
A drone flying overhead took a picture of the image so it can be shared with future generations.
Head teacher Carol Harper said: “It gave us a chance for the whole school to collaborate together on a piece of work whilst maintaining social distancing in our class bubbles.”
Pupils at Oyne School were also artistic and created a painted rainbow which is made up of fingerprints of each pupil at the school.
Head teacher Lindsey McBride said: “We wanted to create something that was familiar like the school badge but different to symbolise the very unusual circumstances of this year.
"We wanted everyone to be included and it seemed fitting to include a rainbow as a symbol of better times ahead and so every child added their fingerprints.”
Caring Crudie School ensured the pupils' wellbeing were being considered when they were learning from home.
To make sure each pupil felt connected when they logged on, they each received a special “Crudie hug”, ensuring they felt reassured and connected.
Pupils at Drumblade School wrote, edited and produced their own online digital newspaper. The school’s head teacher Moira Berry said: “We have been working on a school and community digital newspaper after winning funding from Sscottish Library and Information Council.
"Our first issue focused on food, our community and the impacts of Covid-19. This was a collaboration between the school, pupils, parents, the Live Life Aberdeenshire library service and local community.
"It is just the first edition so only the start of the journey including our local community into our project.”
Kininmonth School pupils communicated with future generations of children by sharing their experiences on post cards.
Teacher Zoe McDonald said: “We have been learning about letter writing so we decided to write a postcard.
"We hoped by creating this postcard a future P1-4 class at Kininmonth School will be able to find out about what our life was like at school and home during 2021.
"We all came up with some sentences about what life has been like during the past year – what has been good, not so good and what has been different during this school year.
"With help from the teacher, we then put these sentences together in the form of a letter and then wrote our own thoughts onto the postcard.
"We added some photos; and took a vote on how best to lay them out. Some of the P3/4 pupils then added the final details to the postcard.”
Aberdeenshire schools have been working collaboratively on a time capsule project.
The initiative sees mementos and memories and experiences donated to a time capsule buried in Aberdeenshire, giving future generations an invaluable insight into life for children and young people during the coronavirus pandemic.
Councillor Gillian Owen, Aberdeenshire Council’s education and children’s services committee chairwoman, said: “There have been an array of fabulous submissions from our schools for the time capsule which give a fascinating glimpse into how children and young people have felt during the coronavirus lockdowns.
"Schools have provided much needed support to them through a variety of activities as well as teachers being mindful of they way pupils have been feeling both when learning from home and when they have returned to school. I would like to thank all schools for their submissions.”
Committee vice-chairwoman councillor Rosemary Bruce said: “Generations of children and young people will see from these time capsule submissions what it has been like for pupils in Aberdeenshire who have lived through the Coronavirus pandemic. Thank you to everyone who took part.”
