Arcadia Scotland

At the end of March, as Arcadia’s students were packing their bags to return home and preparing to move their studies online in response to the global pandemic, children around Scotland were making a shift to virtual learning.

Schools in Scotland will reopen in the Fall, with new rules and procedures to ensure social distancing and help reduce the risk of a second wave of Covid-19 cases.

Last week, when Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that schools would remain closed for the summer term, she thanked children for playing their part. Children have also been thanked in a motion in Parliament brought forward in response to a new book dedicated to children and acknowledging their bravery, handwashing and the rainbows they have displayed on their windows throughout the crisis.

Stay at Home! Poems and Prose for Children Living in Lockdown is an anthology by 40 writers living in Scotland – from the Shetland Islands to the Scottish Borders – and its aim is to help children (and grownups!) reflect on their time in lockdown when billions of people around the globe were asked to remain indoors. It’s got haikus, a script, flash fiction, diaries, letters, a sonnet and more – and each entry has been written especially for this collection.

The book, which is hosted as a free ebook by Publishing Scotland, highlights how it is possible to do something creative, positive and collaborative during even the toughest of times – it was conceived, put together and published by Cranachan Publishing in less than a month. Some of the authors who have connected over the project will be joining me (its editor and a Student Support Officer at Arcadia Edinburgh) on a panel this July as part of Virtual Europe. We will discuss children’s literature in Scotland (which has a wildly successful history, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series) and talk about creativity in lockdown. We very much hope those who are enrolled in this summer's courses will join the event. More details on these events here.