Celebrate Lockdown Anthology - Part 1

Celebrate
Lockdown Anthology
Part 1
Our students - their stories

Headlines
Welcome to ‘Celebrate: Lockdown Anthology -
Part 1’. Here we showcase some of the best work
our students have sent us over the course of this
unprecedented and difficult Summer Term. We
have been bowled over by their creativity, tenacity
and desire to continue to progress and to achieve.
We are proud to bring you this work which takes
so many forms, including poems, designs, drawings,
photos, reports, and letters. If a new medium
for demonstrating talent were to be found then
you can be sure our students will have explored it
this term.
There is, too, a ‘sister’ publication entitled Celebrate:
Lockdown Anthology Part 2’. This takes
the form of a video montage on which we will
always be able to look back and remember our
students’ and staff members’ very special response
to the COVID-19 lockdown. I hope you
enjoy watching Part 2.
I would like to pay tribute to the remarkable staff
team we have at this school. During these challenging
times, the team has repeatedly gone the
extra mile to maintain and enhance the education
we provide. They have worked tirelessly, professionally,
and with a remarkable degree of creativity.
So many of you have recognised this in your
feedback to us, and I thank you for taking the
time to do so. It means a great deal.
We are all looking forward to returning to school
in September. In the meantime, I wish you a very
relaxing and refreshing Summer break.
Lee Walker
Headteacher
Contents
Front Cover: Faith Skinner-Strawn
Page 3: Jayden Nunn
Page 4: Nia Fennelow
Page 7: Nancy Larcombe
Page 8: Amelia Thompson
Page 10: Annabel Skrimshire
Page 12: Elodie Barnard
Page 14: Jessica Eatly
Page 15: Mariana Nhbali
Page 18: Elodie Barnard
Page 19: Rachael Snelling
Page 20: Ryan Burgis
Page 21: Kiara Moores
Page 22: Louise Thearle
Page 24: Alexander Spall & Alfredo Luppi
Page 25: Madyson Howard
Page 26: Lucia Berry
Page 28: Grace Howard
Page 29: Tiye Rawson
Page 30: Archie Sparkes
Page 31:Harry Upton
Page 32: Elodie Barnard
Page 34: Izzie Golding & Logan Clifford-Kennedy
Page 35: Diego Castillo-Olivares
Page 36: Michael Moore & Soprana Kapela
Page 37: Archie Taylor
Page 38: Jaimin Betts, Maisy-Beau Leeks & Seb Da Re
Page 39: Martha Parmee
Page 40: Molly Taylor
Page 42: Hanna Brown
Page 43: Leila French
Page 44: Joseph Ennew
Page 45: Milly Bean and Ashley Brinkley
Back cover: Toby Elliott & Grace Howard
Celebrate is King Edward VI School’s in-house
magazine, the content of which is dedicated
entirely to our students and their stories.
Please send submissions to
celebrate@king-ed.suffolk.sch.uk. Thank you.
Editor and Designer: Zoë MacLachlan

Jayden Nunn (Yr 7)
3

Nia Fennelow
(Yr 10)
5

Nancy Larcombe (Yr 7)
7

Amelia Thom

pson (Yr 8)
9

Buddh
Annabel Skrim

ism is...
shire (Yr 7)
11

‘Acrobats’
Evie How
(Yr 7)

Fields of the Brave
Fields of poppies, plenty to spare,
Friends of dead and gone, leaving no one to care.
Tanks and bombs, many galore,
Brave soldiers who fought now are no more.
Children orphaned, wives widowed,
Flags on both sides in the wind they billowed.
Innocent people sent straight to slaughter,
Terrified soldiers under command, under order.
es
If you are lucky you may get out alive,
But back home, nothing can fill that hole inside.
Many lives were lost, many sacrifices made.
The memory of this tragedy will never fade,
As long as those poppies grow in the fields of the brave.
13

‘Lucky Dip’
Jessica Eatly (Yr 7)
The inky black clouds hung over the dismal town as I once again visited the arcade, which
only just balanced at the end of the ancient pier. I found myself doomed to repeatedly
push coins into the slots; money which I would never see again. When suddenly, the door
creaked open.
I could see a young girl, clutching onto the timeworn door curiously peering around. Another
pitiful soul to be lured in by the intriguing appearance of the arcade. She tiptoed in,
heading directly for the arcade’s hardest to win game - The Lucky Dip. She forced in a
coin, a familiar sound to me, and attempted to pull up a rabbit. Once again, she tested her
luck and pushed in another coin, but to win no reward.
Abruptly, the door was pulled open and the young girl was whisked away by her parents.
The glum rabbit looked to the floor, as if it knew there was no chance of escape. All of a
sudden, she returned from the pouring rain which could be heard from within the arcade.
Eagerly, she ran back towards the machine, and clumsily tripped on a loose plank, forced
to watch her coin roll away.
I approached the machine and knocked it over; she swiftly grabbed the rabbit and nervously
backed away. She plummeted down the gap in the plank and slowly opened her
eyes. “Are you all right?” I asked. She just ignored me and reached for the rabbit, but it
just struggled from her grip and ran for the town.
I reached down through the gap and pulled her back up to the pier. She stared up at me,
stunned but trustingly. I then took her out to her parents and waved. “Thank you!” she
called. It was still raining, yet the town felt more pleasant now.

‘Lucky Dipper’ Mariana Nhbali (Yr 7)
A coin slid into the coin slot. Immediately, the mechanical claw jolted to life above me. My eyes flickered
gently open to see that beyond the glass was a young girl, controlling the gear on the vending
machine. The machine abruptly tugged at my ear and suddenly her attention and her eyes were set on
me. I stood up unsteadily and stared at the child, both of us separated by the glass. I neared towards the
glass, as freedom beckoned me towards it.
A coin slipped into the machine once again; it thrust down towards me then clawed at me with its long
metal talons. Above the other toys, I dangled hopefully as I was lifted into mid-air. The machine halted
with a grunt unexpectedly and dropped me amongst the other toys. The girl was grabbed roughly by
the shoulder and taken outside and she left me alone, distraught.
After moments of waiting, the door creaked and the floorboard groaned, as the same girl came running
towards the machine. I was once again in anticipation, waiting to be picked. Jagged pieces of wood
laid on the ground, from the broken floorboard that was in the middle of the room. She tripped and
stumbled over the hole as her coin rolled underneath the machine, out of reach! Frustrated, I hit the
glass in fury. The one thing keeping me away from leaving this box was that very coin she dropped.
Suddenly, the darkness of a silhouette loomed over her, as a man emerged from behind ‘The lucky
dipper’. This man was terrifying: long thin pins stabbed into his bald head, with a shadow that towered
high above her, pale blue eyes and tattoos that covered his chest. In anger, his fist swiped at the
machine, knocking the lucky dipper over which landed with a groan. Shards of glass shattered over
the floor and the lights flickered hopelessly and then, like a candle, went out. Desperately, I climbed
out of the box but the girl swept me up as the man tried to grab her. She backed away with her hands
gripping tightly to my ears. She stumbled and fell back into the very hole she had already tripped over.
I was standing still on the sand, the sound of the sea lapping on the stones. The girl picked me up and
embraced me. Struggling and wrestling out of her grasp, I slipped back onto the sand again. Swiftly,
the girl attempted to grab me, but I ran onto the sand dune and a couple of steps away was a breathtaking
view of the sea. I climbed on further. I took a final glance at the girl and never looked back as
I went off into the seaside.
15

Life During
A Poetry
This anthology was creat
the activities for our Virtu
place on 15
The aims of the poetry
students opportunities
to regain a sense of co
connected during a p

Lockdown
Anthology
ed in collaboration with
al Sports Day which took
July 2020.
task were to give our
to express themselves,
mmunity, and to feel
eriod of separation.
17

Hope
A candle in the darkness,
Calm after the storm.
A rainbow arching upwards,
It really can transform.
Forlorn blackness
Becomes promising light.
The depths of despair
Have an end in sight.
Smiling on situations
Like sun on winter days.
Opening doors
In so many ways.
Getting us through,
It has; and it will
Giving us a future,
Something to fulfil.
So now we can look forward,
We can dream, we can aspire.
We can come together as a team
And aim for goals set higher.
It conquers the hard times,
The heartbreak and the tears.
It is the thing that sees us through.
Hope defeats our fears.
Elodie Barnard (Yr 7)

When Lockdown Is Over
When Lockdown is over,
When all is said and done,
I will go out dancing,
Dancing in the smiling Sun.
I will take my shoes off,
And feel the grass between my feet,
Under the Oak tree, wizened like a crone,
My friends and I will meet.
We will talk about the changes,
And things that we have seen,
Reassuring each other that things will get better,
Because there’s no more quarantine.
Newborns can meet their families,
Lovebirds can finally tie the knot,
Support groups can meet face-to-face,
Charities can continue their invaluable work from the place
that they left off.
We will hug all of our neighbours,
And paint rainbows on every door,
For finally, after all of this time,
Life, once halted and frozen, can go on once more.
Rachael Snelling (Yr 8)
19

Our New World
We've been through it all, thick and thin
We’ve heard of the people getting killed by the colour of their skin.
We've celebrated many birthdays in this
New world of ours and thought about fleeing
To the planet we call Mars.
It’s different here now, much different than before,
We no longer have our best friends knocking at our door.
Although there is one thing, one thing that has not changed
Something that doesn't need to be rearranged.
Togetherness and Community the thing that
Has shown a rise, the thing that we
Have shown more by opening our eyes.
Opening our eyes to a place called earth,
The place we live, the place
We’ll give birth. The place we’ll make more memories
Better ones than before and remember the time you never heard
A knock on your door.
Ryan Burgis (Yr 8)

Not All Heroes Wear Capes
The silent killer has changed our world,
School grounds deserted, now learning is online.
Supermarket staff working over time.
Hospitals bulging at the seams.
Staff wearing masks and PPE,
Protecting you and protecting me.
Can you hear the clapping, the sound of our applause?
The Thursdays that brought us together to thank you all.
Duty-bound in these unpredictable times,
Keeping us safe but risking your lives.
Filling our windows with rainbows of hope.
Constantly cleaning our hands with soap.
Waving keyworkers off to work,
Eye to eye with the microscopic foe.
Not all heroes wear capes!
Kiara Moores (Year 6)
21

(Yr 10)

23

Alexander Spall (Yr 7)

We are all in this together!
We are all in this together,
One by one, step by step.
We will survive,
We will hold on to the hope.
When will it end? No one knows.
Living at home not going anywhere...
Oh this sucks so much!
Corona virus spreads around the world.
‘Keep the NHS safe!’
‘Don't go near anyone!’
‘Open your door!
‘Take one piece of exercise a day!’
‘Wash your hands or you will be ill!’
The NHS helps all of us.
We are all in this together.
Madyson Howard (Yr 10)
Alfredo Luppi (Yr 8)
25

Guest reporter - Lucia Berry
Year 9
27

Grace Howard (Yr 8)

‘Marine Life’
Tiye Rawson (Yr 8)
29

Archie Sparkes (Yr 8)

Alice Cleaver (Yr 8)
Harry Upton (Yr 8)
31

Bridge design and a famous structure
Elodie Barnard (Yr 7)
33

Izzie Golding
(Yr 7)
Logan Clifford-Kennedy
(Yr 7)

Diego Castillo-Olivares (Yr 8)
35

The way we socialise and interact with each other has changed completely over the last few months. Unable to see our
friends, or visit loved ones, we have had to be creative to ensure we stay in touch. Some of our Year 9 and 10 students have
been forging new friendships with their German pen-pals. As a school, we are fortunate to have links with the Eichendorff
Gymnasium, a grammar school in Koblenz, in the West of Germany. Our students wrote letters earlier in the year and were
then paired up with a German counterpart. Following this initial contact, students quickly adapted to faster methods of
communication. Two Year 10 students tell us about their pen friend experiences:
My pen friend is Jan and we have been talking for most of year 10. We talk about school, music, what we have planned for
the weekend and everything in between. We speak to each other in both German and English, and usually take turns. Quite
honestly having a pen friend has really helped me to develop my German in more ways than I could have imagined. When
talking to a pen friend, you have to think quite quickly and learn how to make small talk in German, which has opened
up a whole new set of vocabulary for me. It has really helped me to develop my German writing skills too and has had a
knock-on effect on the breadth of my German vocabulary. Overall having a pen friend has not only helped me to develop
my German, but it has also meant that I have a great friend who I can chat to often and practise German with!
Michael Moore (Yr 10)
I have always wanted a pen friend and through this German link I have gained more than that: a wonderful friend. German
is quite a hard subject, and can sometimes be quite intense, but I have felt more relaxed talking with my German pen pal,
Darleen. She has helped me to feel more confident in my German work and German pronunciation. Several times a month,
we talk with each other, and force each other to say really hard words in German and in English, allowing us to practise
our pronunciation, but also to have fun. We send gifts and boxes full of our native sweets and snacks, just as a way to say
‘Thank you’. It is a really good exchange between us. We have plans to visit each other in the coming years. She is a great
joy to talk to, and she gives me confidence in my German ability. Having a pen-pal, in any language, is really something
special. I am so happy to have Darleen. Soprana Kapela (Yr 10)
Freunde aus Deutschland

Archie Taylor (Yr 8)
37

M
Jaimin Betts (Yr 9) Maisy-Beau Leeks (Yr 7)
Seb Da Re
(Yr 7)

artha Parmee (Yr 8)
39

‘The Outbreak’

y Molly Taylor (Yr 8)
41

‘Healthy
Plates’
The game is suitable for
three players aged 3+.
Alternatively, the child
could play on their own,
matching the different
colour fruit and vegetables
to the plates.
Instructions:
1) Each player chooses a colour plate, putting the brown plate to each side.
2) Turn the cards over in the middle of the table (white side facing up).
3) Each player takes it in turn to turn over a card.
4) If the colour of the fruit or vegetable matches the colour of the player’s plate, they place the
card on their plate.
5) If the player picks up another colour fruit or vegetable, they place it back down on the table.
6) If the player picks up a brown food, they place the card on the brown plate.
7) The first player to get all their five fruit and vegetables on their plate wins.
Hanna Brown (Yr 10)
This game teaches children
that they should
eat five different fruit
and vegetables every
day and refrain from
eating unhealthy foods.
It develops the child’s
understanding of colours,
numbers, names
of fruit and vegetables
and their fine motor
skills. This game also
promotes communication
and turn taking.

Leila French (Yr 7)
43

Joseph Ennew (Yr 9)

What is this book about?
‘Little Women’ is a story about four sisters’ lives, the Marches. They all
live at home with their mother and houseworker, Hannah, as their dad is
away fighting for the army. The sisters are called Amy, Margaret (Meg),
Josephine (Jo) and Beth. Opposite where they live is Mr Laurence and
his grandson Laurie, who the Marches meet at the start of the story. The
book follows the many highs and lows of the girls’ life, including illness
to marriage.
Who would this book be suitable for?
I think this book would be suitable for people over the age of eight, because
there is a little bit of difficult language throughout the book. I feel
the best age to read would be 11-13 as that is a good age to be able to understand
it, but the book is definitely suitable for adults as well.
Would you recommend this book?
I would definitely recommend this book to other people as I found it interesting
as well as not difficult to read. Some of the language and parts of
the plot can be a little bit confusing, but it is still fairly simple to get your
head around.
Are there any other books in the series?
After ‘Little Women’ there are three other books which carry on the story
of the Marches’ lives. The first is ‘Good Wives’ and is about the girls and
their husbands. The second is ‘Little Men’, and then finally ’Jo’s Boys
and how they turned out’.
A review of
Louisa May Alcott’s
‘Little Women’
by Milly Bean
(Yr 7)
Ashley Brinkley (Yr 9) 45

Our students - their stories