It's been a unique and difficult year for students across Kent and the world.

While getting to grips with remote learning and being separated from friends, they also have to maintain high grades amid confusion over testing and going into school.

Jennifer Riley, 16, is a Year 11 student at Tenterden's Homewood School, and writes here about her educational experience over the last year...

Finding out about another lockdown definitely caused a wave of emotions. My first thoughts were exams. Were exams still going to go ahead? How were we going to be assessed if schools had shut?

I’m sure every Year 11 and Year 13 student felt the same overwhelming and stressful feelings once this third lockdown was announced. It was that night as well that the beauty students were receiving multiple emails - not knowing if our exam was going to go ahead until 9pm the night before.

I remember going into school, meeting a couple of friends as we walked into the building together. I was nervous - but I was so happy to be reunited with friends and going through the process together.

In G block, we were all sanitised and separated while we did our exam. The first moment where ‘exam conditions’ actually meant ‘exam conditions’. It was so nerve-wracking for everybody, especially due to the uncertainty surrounding this exam taking place.

However, we all managed to escape the exam room and go home with a weight lifted from our shoulders.

For me, the first lockdown and remote learning was already a massive challenge that we all had to face. Looking back, I had no routine - no structure - and I definitely had an imbalance of how much time I was spending on subjects I enjoyed and subjects that I struggled with.

The days were tedious and eventually school work became very draining, lacking a lot of motivation, and I’m sure others would agree as we crept closer towards the summer holidays.

Spending that tiny amount of time at school from September to December definitely lifted my spirits as I could see everybody that I had missed so much and return back to a slightly more normal education.

In a way, it is beneficial for me that we did go through that first lockdown - as I have found it easier this time to identify some kind of routine to my days as I feel I have got used to working from home all the time.

"We are all able to get through this together..."

I like to do school work at my own pace, in my own time, and with a cup of tea, to ensure that I am actually learning and not just getting the work done as quickly as possible.

Again, I’m sure many of you reading this can relate to desperately counting down those last few seconds of a remote learning video and wishing that another task doesn’t come up!

My favourite part of the day is communicating with friends over social media, staying in contact and talking about what we’ve been up to. I’ve been for a few occasional walks, but should probably try a bit harder to get outside more!

It’s a shame that the weather is rubbish, as I didn’t mind a nice sunny walk towards the end of the first lockdown. I have recently ordered a couple of books to try and read more often, binged too much Netflix and have been helping my mum cook dinner, all to get myself away from Google Classroom.

Some work is definitely hard to get through, but as a Year 11 student, I shouldn’t really expect any less.

We are all able to get through this together and earn the grades that we deserve. It has been a tough year, but the end is now in sight with millions of vaccinations now being distributed across the UK. This won’t continue forever!

I hope that everyone reading this is well and remembering that we will overcome this virus soon.

Remember to try your hardest, knowing that whatever the outcome of this strange period of time brings, you did your best and wouldn’t have it any other way.

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