Cranford Review 2021

Year 11
COVID
History Curriculum
Summer term 2020
If
we had to narrow down why History
is important to one simple statement,
it would be foolish for that statement not to
be: ‘Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it’ (George Santayana).
The world experiencing a pandemic in the
year 2020 and living life in lockdown was
a perfect example of History repeating
itself and so, it was the ideal opportunity to
encourage our year 11 students to become
true historians. As part of our end of year 11
History curriculum, the History department
created a Pandemic Project in which students
were asked to reflect on their knowledge of
plagues and pandemics from their study
of Medicine Through Time, c.1250 to the
present day. Here, they explored the trends
and patterns of the Black Death 1348, the
Great Plague 1666 and the Spanish Flu
1918, as well as how the world responded
to these. As part of this project, students
were encouraged to engage with a number
of source based activities – the creation of
materials that one day, will become historical
sources documenting their experience of
the COVID-19 Pandemic. One such activity
was a ‘time capsule’ activity where students
were asked to document their experiences of
the Pandemic in the form of a letter to their
future selves. Here are two examples which
we thought were particularly poignant and
indicative of how much we have all been
impacted by the Pandemic and what our
hopes are for the future.
To Future Self
Being in quarantine feels normal. I still have the same
schedule however it feels a little weird as even summer
holidays are not this long. The impact coronavirus has
had on my education is that my GCSEs are cancelled, and
I no longer go to school. School is done online, it’s weird
but I’m also happy about it as I won’t have to wake up
early until September (hopefully!). I recently heard that
Slovenia is the first European country to completely wipe
out coronavirus – some hope that it is possible. Countries
such as USA are bad, they have over 1 million cases.
If you do read this in a couple of years, remember to
appreciate and be grateful to the little things in life.
Sometimes humanity forgets to be so appreciative to be
able to go to things such as restaurants or parties and I
think it is important that we just be grateful about it.
Kareena
May 21st 2020
23/05/20
Hi Iman.
It’s you... Or me... It’s us!
Only I am slightly younger (and probably dumber) than you.
I just survived day 63 of the coronavirus lockdown and sadly haven’t really
achieved anything. Despite having all this free time, I’ve failed to learn a new
skill or discover a hobby or even manage to get my school work done before its
deadline. The complete opposite to you, of course. I hope...
Depending on when you see this letter again, you could be at university, married
to some loser with eight kids together or you could be 70 years old and barely
able to move - remember that 16 is the age when you first started experiencing
back pain. You did this to yourself.
Also, please don’t have eight kids.
On another note, I thought I’d remind you of what you were doing during the
famous COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 that swept across the globe and pretty much
changed everyone’s life. It’s surreal. And not necessarily in a good way, though
there were benefits for some people. Including you. I’ll explain how.
1. You spent more time with your family. Although there were a fair share of
arguments, you still stayed up until the early hours of the morning with them
having plenty of good fun together.
2. You had a super-long holiday off of school. This was needed after the weight
of revision that was on your shoulders (which you didn’t even attempt to decrease
by the way - something that I hope has changed by year 12).
3. You got to know people better! In particular, someone who I hope becomes
the loser you could potentially be married to in ten years’ time. Again, please
don’t have the eight kids.
4. The lockdown made you realise how many things you’d been taking for
granted. I’ve always been content with sitting quietly in my room and not
bothering to leave the house yet now I find myself craving fresh air and just
wanting to go somewhere. Anywhere!
Cranford is also something I miss: coming late to form almost everyday, laughing
like a maniac with my friends and enjoying the canteen food. Oh the canteen
food! Delicious.
When I first heard that Friday the 20th of March would be the final day of year
11, I can’t say I was surprised. With the pandemic worsening it was bound to
happen. Nonetheless, the reality of the situation is much bigger than we could’ve
imagined; it’s all about finding a way to cope now.
I hope that upon coming out of lockdown, life returns back to the way it was,
with a few alterations. Perhaps 20 years from now we’ll be living in an advanced
society, where people are more tolerant and kind, where we do more for those who
are putting their life on the line for our protection, where we are considerate of
what other people have had to go through in this time. I also hope that sometime
soon the salons open so I can get my eyebrows done!
See you in the future,
From past you/me/us
HISTORY
#
Sahrish Shaikh (Head of History Department)
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