Aryan in Year 4 was featured in 'The Guardian' recently talking about life in lockdown. Below is his interview, taken from the newspaper feature, which can also be viewed here. Well done Aryan!
"It was my birthday in September. Last year, it was the pandemic and I had no party. It was really boring. But this year, two of my friends had birthdays at the same time and we had a pinball party all together. The whole class came and it was really fun. Seeing the piles of presents was so exciting.
My favourite present was a painting kit. I got a lot more interested in art during lockdown because it was pretty much the only thing I could do when my parents were working, my brother was at nursery and I was all alone. I’ve painted a lot of volcanoes with my new kit. Lots of explosions.
The other thing I got into during lockdown was playing football. I played it for myself for hours in the garden when I was all alone during the day. Now I’m really good – when I wasn’t before – and that’s helped me make friends in my new school. It’s really helped me fit in.
Being back at school seems a lot more fun now we’ve been at home for two years. It’s been so long since I’ve had proper lessons or played with anyone I know that I don’t care that I have to do learning; I just want to be in school to see my friends.
The pandemic hasn’t really changed me except that I’m cleaner now. I’m not worried about hygiene, but I’m worried that if I get Covid, I won’t be able to go to school, and it would be so boring to have to be at home again.
I don’t talk about the pandemic with my friends. We don’t want to remember how boring it was to be at home for so long.
My mum still works from home, but my dad goes into work for two days a week now. I don’t like it when he’s not here any more. He used to be away a lot before the pandemic and I didn’t think about it, but now I’ve got used to him being around all the time and I really like it. The house feels empty when we’re not all in it together.
After I got into football and lockdown ended, I became interested in lots of different sports. I do triathlons now: cycling, running then swimming in the lake near where I live. I do tennis and cricket too. I’m a lot more sporty now.
It’s really weird looking back at the pandemic and thinking that, for more than a whole year, I was just inside my house and the garden. It was really awful. I was bored and I was lonely. I don’t want to do it again.
I want to have the vaccine because then I have a small chance of getting Covid but I’ll do whatever my parents say. I think they want me to have it, which is good."
