“Life at Rydal Penrhos has been extremely difficult for everybody in the last 12 months. However, despite all the troubles over the last 12 months, with constant closures and restrictions placed upon us, I personally feel I am where I am now due to the school and the lengths they have gone to, to ensure our amount of learning remains at a high quantity and a high quality.” – Morgan Kendall, Year 13 pupil.
Much has been made of the “lost generation” of learners who have undergone some significant hardship over the last 12 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Various lockdown measures prevented pupils young and old from attending school, taking part in clubs and activities, in addition to being stuck at home with minimal social contact with friends and family.
This has been highlighted more than ever over the last few days thanks to Children’s Mental Health Week emphasising the need to share feelings and concerns.
Staff at Rydal Penrhos are constantly looking for ways to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Providing support and guidance, together with a structured and diverse online learning provision not only enables Rydal Penrhos pupils to keep some sort of routine with unprecedented disruption around them, but it also provides them with an outlet other than messaging and social media to talk, enjoy the company of their friends and achieve a semblance of normality.
Morgan has high praise for Rydal Penrhos staff.
We spoke with Morgan Kendall, who is joint-Deputy Head Boy and a Year 13 pupil on this topic, where he praised the school for their active approach to making sure learning continued efficiently and the lengths staff have gone to with a view to improving the mental health of each pupil under their care.
He said: “During this latest lockdown, the school have been extremely proactive in ensuring that our learning remains high, especially since it is our final year and we are preparing for university life and/or exams – that no longer exist in the same form.
“Throughout this lockdown, the school kept our timetables in sync with what they would normally be, and they have managed to keep our workload consistent to what it would be in “normal times”.
The return to school during the autumn term was beneficial to the mental health of many pupils here at Rydal Penrhos, and strong provisions were made ensuring that the cases in the school were kept to an absolute minimum.
“I am confident that as the current lockdown begins to have a more positive outlook with the accelerating rollout of the vaccine and falling case numbers, I hope that it will not be long until we can all see each other once again.”
Morgan has spent the entirety of his education at Rydal Penrhos after enrolling as a Reception class pupil at the Prep School back in 2008.
He has come of age and benefitting enormously from an all-through education at the school, which was reflected in his appointment to a position of leadership last year to acknowledge his growth as a pupil and a person in recent years.
“It’s been a place where I have grown as a person, I have created my childhood memories, I have made many friends which will hopefully go on to be lifelong friends and Rydal Penrhos is the place where I met many inspiring people,” added Morgan.
“That includes staff, students, parents and visitors. Everyone I have met at Rydal Penrhos has made me a better person in one way or another. This will forever be a school that lives in my heart.”
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Anyone wishing to enquire about Rydal Penrhos School can do so by calling 01492 530155, email admissions@rydalpenrhos.com or register your interest online here: https://rydalpenrhos.com/admissions/apply-now.