Jasmine Hastings is in Year 7 and is our first school reporter. These are her first opinion pieces. We are excited to now include student writing as part of our newsletter.

Please be aware that the image and information may be distressing to some readers

GEORGE FLOYD,

An innocent man!

On the 25th of May 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota an African American man, George Floyd was brutally murdered by Derek Chauvin an American police officer. George Floyd had had some prior involvement with the police, he had spent time in jail for committing an armed robbery in a home invasion for which he was sentenced to 5 years in jail. The robbery was committed in 2007 but he was only sentenced in 2009; he did his time and was released in 2014. The police that were on duty with Derek Chauvin the day George Floyd died saw George sitting on the hood of a car - he appeared to be intoxicated. The police then came up to him and questioned him, he did not cooperate, for this they began to beat him up in the middle of the street. Derek Chauvin ended George Floyd’s life by putting his knee to George Floyd’s neck. George’s lasts words were, “I can’t breathe”.

For the past week, people have been protesting in America, not just in Minneapolis but all over America and indeed all over the world. This traumatic event has caused people to speak their mind and try and make a difference. Police cars have been destroyed as well as stores, houses, police departments and even churches. People are angry. Black lives matter, as much as white lives matter as much as gay lives matter, all lives matter. No one should be killed because they are different and certainly not because of the colour of their skin. We are all unique and no one should discriminate. In this instance, George Floyd was an innocent man.

The police who are still trying to make peace are being pushed to their limits. One police officer has been accepted by the protestors because he was trying to keep the peace, he was not saying that their reasons for protesting were false. This man was the New Bedford police chief and he was helping the protesters. A lady in the crowd said to the police chief, “If you are really with us, take the kneel so we know you’re loyal”. The police chief kneeled in front of all the protesters to keep the peace and show his loyalty to civilians.

Protesting can be good and peaceful and powerful in showing that people believe in what they are protesting about – but they should remain calm. Burning the American flag is disrespecting soldiers who have died in war as this is a symbol of their sacrifice and commitment to country. If we continue trying to make the leaders of the world see us and hear us, we can make the biggest difference known to mankind! We can come together and start thinking of the bigger problems and not the fact that one person does not like the other person’s skin colour. There is so much that humanity does not know but one thing that we do know is that people should not be treated in different ways because of the colour of their skin, we are all equal.

By Jasmine Hastings Year 7

QUARANTINE AND ITS AFFECTS

By Jasmine Hastings

We have all heard the words ‘quarantine’,’ isolation’, and ‘hygiene’ way too much over the past month or so. It is all about how we need to keep safe, we may have a strong immune system but other people may not. Everyone has been affected by Covid-19 in some way. Whether it’s not being able to hug your friend or not being able to see them full stop. We all hated it let us be honest and we even started to miss school, so it is a good thing we are back. So much changed very quickly. Suddenly we could not go to school, we could not even go into the supermarket without sanitizing and waiting in a line with people 1.5 meters away from each other, of course.

As a student I can say that online learning went as well as it could have, everyone was at least trying to cooperate. Remote learning is not a permanent solution, we need face to face learning, but it was a good solution to a problem that escalated very fast. “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% is how you react” a quote by Charles R. Swindoll. Online learning was an experience that we will all remember due to its difficulty. We all knew it was not going to be easy, doing all our schoolwork on a computer and online meeting, it was not without its struggles.

An anonymous source of mine from year 8 said that “It was very difficult to start with because we didn’t know what to expect, but then it got easier, it was hard trying to get attention from the teachers and overall I just missed my friends” A lot of other people have said thesame or similar things about online learning. I feel although online learning was difficult because the teachers seemed to give us more work just so we could stay busy, but people reacted in different ways. Some got overwhelmed whilst others liked the feeling of being busy and having stuff to do.

Ms Dauphin, the school principal, said “Teams was an excellent resource and without it, it would have felt harder”. The overall IT problems that happened was extraordinary. Mr Kellow in the library had a range of problems from computer shut downs to microphones not working on teams. But over all, we pushed through. We kept going until everyone had a computer with internet. We all had our problems when it came to computers, but I feel I know more about my computer and how it works now. Mr Kellow said that he had at least 20 people a day asking him for help with their computer which is an extraordinary amount.

If Covid- 19 had not already taken away enough, there goes sport. Everything from professional football to a town netball club, we had no way of playing a proper game of sport. I spoke to two students from year 7 who said that it was hard getting motivated to do sport and start being active again. They also said that their overall activeness had dropped since the pandemic. “I did a lot of drills, but I missed the team” a very true statement from the year 7 students.

We all dealt with covid-19 in different ways whether it be picking up a new skill, spending more time with the family or whatever. It impacted us all differently, but we were all the same when it came to schooling. We learnt to adapt and that was the truly amazing part, how we just came together and tried out this new way of living, it was extraordinary. But we all missed some things like school, sporting teams, friends, or family. We need these things. We all did well and kept our distance, so stay safe and hygienic as this is still an ongoing problem.

Reporters note:

Thank you to all who helped me publish this article and especially to all the teachers.

Thank you for making our education possible during these hard times.

CANTEEN