‘Teachers are helping us in the best way they can but our education leaders are directing us blindly’

Starting sixth form in September 2019, I had no idea the whirlwind of a journey that I was about to embark upon. I was Danny Walsh of Holy Cross College; Regular year 13 student.

However, since March 2020, my sixth form experience was desolated and I wanted my voice to be heard.

We finished school for our St. Patrick’s Day holidays as per usual, with ‘online-learning’ seeming like a foreign concept. Now, it’s second nature.

I ’m now a l most hal f-way through the year 14 experience and I’ve had to make major adjustments. From little things like wearing a mask in public areas, to extensive things like attempting to grasp new topics that I must know for an A-level exam through Zoom.

How effective is this? Not very. Teachers are assisting us in the best way they can. But there is only so much they can do.

With our supposed ‘ education leaders’ directing us blindly, not caring about the academic desires a student has for this year, we are all feeling the pressure. So what has the last school year been like? Soul-crushing. Life-changing. Infuriating. This is not what I signed up for. It shouldn’t be normalised for me to be able to do a history project on Charles Stewart Parnell at 5am and calling that business as usual.

The positive thing about online learning from March to June was that we had hope. Hope that our leaders would come to their senses and help us. Now, we have lost that. My last academic year in school has been disappointing — a far cry from how I always imagined my school days would end.