Creative During COVID

#Adaptability

Students, teachers and families discovered hidden talents, new ways to be creative and gained important skills lost in the modern world during their time extended time at home. 

Here are some of the novel ideas and creations made on and off campus during remote learning:

DRAWING A CROWD

Art teacher Ms Marsh knew she would miss her students during remote learning - so she drew everyone in her homeroom. She felt it was important to maintain a sense of connection.

The almost life-sized pencil-on-paper portraits were cut out, attached to a stick and placed at each student’s desk in their Homeroom (BP2), creating the illusion of an active classroom.

“I knew the students would miss each other, too. For the students who did come to school it was great as they could feel the ‘presence’ of their friends, and for those connected to the classroom remotely it was something nice to see from home,’’ Ms Marsh said.

“Some students were harder to draw than others,’’ she admitted. “Some took about 10 minutes, others 45. It was a bit strange drawing many of them because the SEQTA photos are a year old and they’ve changed so much.’’

SCHOOL OF FISH

Lab technician Ms Nugent ordered in fresh whole mullets for Ms Eloff’s Year 11 Integrated Science class.

“We weren’t able to go on an excursion to the aquarium, so we brought in fish for students to  dissect as part of marine biology,’’ Ms Eloff said.

For most students it was the first time they had dissected a fish - but for some it brought back memories of camping holidays.

CHEFS AT HOME

The results of Ms Frazier’s Year 8-10 Creative Cooking at Home competition could easily be made into a cookbook. The challenge was to create a sweet or savoury dish, present it decoratively and upload a photo into SEQTA to go into the draw to win a Cafe135@Treasure voucher. Ms Frazier is awarding about 20 prizes - with winners notified on Monday.

See all of the students' creations here:

Year 10 Charlotte Brown made a four-tiered vanilla & buttercream cake as part of her family's Easter celebration. "She’s a passionate cook and baking is her creative outlooking, however she enjoys textiles just as much, and is hoping to become a Home Economics Teacher once she graduates,'' Head of Tongerlo House Mrs Rogers said. "I think we all agree that’s she well on her way to achieving her goals.''

LAUNCH OF CROC FM

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, you are listening to Homeroom at Home, where we make home time the show time! Coming to you live from St Norbert College, only on Croc FM, SNC's #1 radio channel.'' 

So said House Captain Lorenzo Donatelli to everyone listening at home during Kilnacrott's novel new way to connect.

"It was done from the small room near Student Ministry that nobody takes notice of,'' Lorenzo explained. "The room had everything we needed: a long desk, a table, a couple of chairs and walls covered with felt to absorb any excess sound. The perfect recording studio for our (at the time) Extended Homeroom Microsoft Teams Meeting.

"I decided to have a little bit of fun and think of it as an actual radio show. I was thinking of a name for the show and our station and a cheesy intro for it that sounded like something that would be said on Mix 94.5. I told Amanda and Ruvimbo, the vice-captains, and Graciano, the Chairman of the Committee - they thought it was embarrassing and told me not to go ahead with it. I went ahead with it anyway.

"Eventually, we ended up with a proper radio show that had hosts, guests, games, music, and fun! On our second episode, we even called out to the homerooms, just like how a radio show calls out to its listeners, to check on each of their Quarantine Collages. Ms Abel was the main host, with myself, Amanda, Ruvimbo and Graciano as co-hosts and a random member of the Committee as a guest host (Rohan from K3 was on our first episode and Paul from K4 was on our second). Our special guests for the game 'Guess the Guest' were Ms Kyd and Mr Yeoh, who explained how he spent time making a card table from recycled wood and felt (see the table in the picture gallery above). 

"We are having so much fun in the planning, preparation and broadcasting, and we're having a good laugh on-air and off-air. It's also a wonderful feeling that we're able to entertain the entire house with this show also, as I've heard nothing but praise about the show. Our next prospect is to hold a homeroom competition on the show in the close future, which would go down in the books as the very first virtual homeroom competition in Kilnacrott history and I believe College history.''

KNITTING CLUB

Grandmas, mums and aunts as well as residents in retirement villages and members of a bingo and golf club have joined the St Norbert College Knitting Club to create woollen squares that will be stitched together into blankets for  the babies at the Smile Foundation in Indonesia. 

“I’ve had so many calls from grandmas and mums who want to knit and have recruited their friends,’’ said Ms Kyd. “It's a great thing to do in isolation and nannas are spreading the word to their networks.''

One grandmother, Janet Phillips, was asked to take part by grandson Curtis Blackwood during home schooling and also recruited a friend to join the knitting club. 

A STITCH IN TIME

One way to keep occupied – and warm – when in lockdown is knitting and crocheting. Ms Rainford, Ms Mark, Ms Kyd, Mrs Rogers and Ms MaGee created these blankets and throws during their extended time at home.

 Mrs L Quartermain (Community Relations and Marketing)