Initially I was fine with it as I had completed all the required days in a primary classroom setting for that year, although I was not sure how home-learning would work for the children, let alone myself.

Luckily, I managed to complete the required placement days in second year, although changes have been made to the final year placement. It has been pushed back by a week and we will have to abide by the Covid19 policy within individual schools and work to achieve the targets we would have in a 'normal' placement environment.

I can get up and walk my dog at any time, I can help myself to tea and biscuits and I can wear whatever I like without judgement. Although these are natural home comforts, I don't believe that work should be brought into your home. The same way it is encouraged that teachers should not bring marking home with them; it's important to keep work and play separate.

It all became a bit stressful when there were deadlines to hit, online meetings that always ran over, and household tasks to complete. There was nowhere to relax in the house as I began to see it as a place of work.

Another challenge was the fact that normally, after a lecture or seminar, if there was something you wanted to clarify you could have a scout around campus and find someone to talk to. During lockdown though, it was all done by email.

I decided to set up a YouTube channel making arty videos back when lockdown was announced as I saw how upset and confused children were first-hand, so I wanted to keep morale high. Initially, I had only intended for it to be used by the children at my placement school, although bizarrely it has spread and people from India, New Zealand and the United States have seen my channel. One of my most successful videos is about making a dinosaur from a milk bottle.

I am proud if my channel and I am proud of myself for having the confidence to get it going.

Having time to sit and reflect during lockdown has been extremely beneficial to me. I built a really great rapport with my recent placement school and they have asked me to go in and create their displays for September.

I also noticed that many of my peers were creating Twitter accounts, so naturally I did too. There is a section on twitter called 'edutwitter' and it's a community of teaching and educational professionals all sharing their advice and resources. This, my interest in education and holding the government to account, instigated my 'Manifesto for Change'. On twitter, I have been able to engage with many professionals and use their experiences to help draw up ideas that I would one day like to present to the Department of Education and their accompanying legislators.

Another aim of mine is to make British Sign Language (BSL) compulsory on teacher training courses, it is a necessity and sets a great example of inclusion when the class teacher can communicate with deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals and inspire the class to learn.

I believe these extra-curricular activities will show future employers that I am on this journey for the right reasons and that I have clear goals to hopefully improve education on a national basis and be the best teacher I can be.

It's excitingly daunting to realise that this time next year I should have my first class to teach. Final year is the most important, and I have been collecting lots of valuable literature for my dissertation and keeping my eye out for opportunities. My next steps include assignments, the final block placement and then the dissertation. COVID depending, it should all go to plan.

Personally, I feel I have coped well. As unfortunate as the situation is, it has been enlightening and helped me understand more about schools and the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes and just how incredible the teaching community is in times like these. It will be interesting to see what happens with the bubbles the children are now in, but we need to do what we can and take each day as it comes.

• My first tip would be to get out the house at least twice a day, just so you don't feel trapped in your environment.
• My second tip would be to keep in contact with those on your course, support each other and see what they're doing to further their studies, that way you can still work collaboratively from afar.
• My final tip would be to take time out and remember that this is not permanent, it may seem like it, but you need to carry on doing those things you did in your down-time, and don't let the days all blur into one.

The lockdown restrictions have impacted me, as I was unable to graduate at an in-person ceremony. That was a big blow as throughout my course I used graduation as a form of motivation.

I also had to have meetings with my supervisor over zoom instead of face-to-face to discuss my work. Lockdown forced me to take more of an independent approach to get the best out of the meetings and develop my work, as my supervisor wasn't as easily accessible virtually as they were on campus.

I started lockdown in a bit of a funk trying to figure out how I was going to adapt to online learning and the realisation that I wasn't able to graduate. But as lockdown progressed, I started to use the time to acknowledge what skills I had developed during my years at university and how I can transfer these skills to the jobs I want to apply for.

During lockdown I acknowledged that ‘change’ is inevitable, which is why I decided I wanted to help students by sharing my knowledge and insights of adapting to change and disruption, as it’s not normally something taught in career guidance sessions. I wanted to teach students and graduates how to adapt to the changes that may occur in their lives and help them realise that they can learn so much through lockdown and use it as a foundation for their own journeys.

I ran zoom meetings covering various topics such as adapting to online learning, how to deal with change and developing your critical thinking skills. I also used Instagram and YouTube to communicate with students and answer any questions they had. I built up a network of people, including graduates, lecturers and higher education specialists, which helped me to provide this advice on how students can manage their ‘spare’ time effectively.

I will be able to use this experience when applying for jobs as it will allow me to display how I used my transferable skills in moments of adversity.

I received support from my supervisor, as she made sure that I was able to adapt to studying online. I also had consistent meetings which allowed me to ask questions if I didn't understand something. The University of Bedfordshire provided good communication – I felt supported and that I could speak to someone if needed.

I think I have coped really well but there were good and bad days. I've never experienced anything like lockdown before, so initially it came as a shock to the system. I have come out of the pandemic feeling more knowledgeable, not just about my industry but how to transition effectively after university life. I have surprised myself – even though I was nervous about the pandemic, I used my ability to influence and speak to others to help encourage other students during this time.

The lockdown has inspired a desire to help students so my next steps have changed. I am now looking to work within higher education, dealing in particular with student transitions as I have a passion to ensure that students leave university knowing how to deal with the changes they will experience. I will look into potential PhD opportunities to explore this avenue further.

I moved back home to Jersey before the hard lockdown occurred, because once they shut down airports and boarders I would have no way of getting home. I was nervous, but part of me was excited to go back home, as I hadn't seen my parents since Christmas.

As my course is very practical I had no access to typical equipment (radio studios, microphones, editing software, etc) as I was off campus.

However, this lack of access allowed me to find alternatives, which could produce nearly-as-good quality audio that rarely gave me any issues. I'm grateful that I was able to discover more outlets and services to create my work – I will definitely be continuing to use these once we go back to normal.

I had access to home comforts when I started to feel stressed. This was mainly my dogs, who loved all the extra attention.

I would roughly study for three hours a day. Some days more, some days less if the situation was overwhelming.

I found adjusting to living at home with the whole family more challenging than I anticipated. Also, the fact that I couldn't just leave the house to clear my head added to my stress levels. It was also a challenge sharing the (very poor) wifi with five people – which included three students and two parents – all studying or working from home.

During lockdown, the catering company I normally work for over the summer started doing a home delivery service. I was craving a sense of normality and going back to work was what I needed. Returning to work also helped with my mental health. I really struggled with being in the house, not being able to go for a walk, pop to the shops or see my friends. Keeping in touch online worked to a certain extent, but it doesn't compare to talking in person.

I had to prepare some of the food myself (such as salads, desserts and cold starters) and ensure all the orders were packed correctly in the kitchen before they left the restaurant. I also delivered the food to people's homes, which at times was stressful if I couldn't find the house.

Thankfully, the hours I worked were almost always in the evenings. This allowed me to focus on my studies during the day, attend lectures and complete my assignments. This added some structure to my day and helped me meet the targets I set for myself.

We had a lot of emails explaining what was happening and how our new online teaching schedule would work.

I was also appreciative of extensions for our assignments, as I struggled some days to even get out of bed, let alone do my university work. Knowing that I had extra time to complete my work helped calm me down in stressful times.

Luckily a lot of the books I needed to access had e-copies available, which I accessed through the university's online library portal.

At first I struggled adapting to this new way of life. I felt sad and unmotivated. However, I started some new hobbies (including baking, which was fun) and this helped my mental health massively. It became easier to complete my university work once I figured out how to distract myself from everything that was going on around me.

I am both excited and nervous to return to campus. Nervous in the sense that we are still in the midst of a pandemic but I know that we will be well protected, through wearing masks, sanitising and there being one-way systems in each campus building.

I am also excited to return to university to see my friends and to start to feel ‘normal’ again.

• Find somewhere quiet to study – avoid your bedroom. If you have an extra space somewhere use it to separate your work from your relaxation time.
• Stop working at regular intervals – remember to take breaks to eat, drink and move around, and have a conversation with someone if you can.
• Remember it’s okay to have an off day – I was always beating myself up over this but some days you just need to relax and re-set.
• Send emails if you need help – I sometimes found myself struggling through not having access to certain materials but your lecturers are there to help you.
• Drink lots of tea or coffee! Often my favourite part of studying from home was my mum bringing me a hot cuppa every hour. It helped me to relax when I felt overwhelmed.