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Friday Thoughts 46 - The blink of an eye

So, we go from last week feeling like a month to this week which has gone in the blink of an eye!

For most of you, that’s also assessment week over not just for this term but for this year. Hopefully you’ve seen some really great progress from your children; I know a few people I’ve spoken to, just in casual conversations, are really proud of what the children have achieved. We have to remember it’s not just about what the children have achieved, it is also about how they have achieved. The children have achieved what they have because you enabled them to.

I wrote most of this on my walk to work this morning, via voice dictation, so I’m now tidying it up while sitting at my desk. I found myself with an unexpected few minutes so I thought I would make a start now (rather than at 5pm tonight) and I can see the Y5s at play through my window. There are a good few playing football on the field, but there are a number playing with the equipment; some are limbo-ing under skipping ropes while others are using some circular plastic hoops as obstacles. They are playing happily in mixed-gender groups and it’s just lovely to see their innocence remains.

The sunshine always makes me feel better and being outside in the warm is definitely my preference. The fact that, as a general rule, we have been able to have outdoor breaks and the children can run off their excess energy is a bonus that in pre-covid years we may not have been able to do due to the pollution levels. What a difference the sound of children’s laughter makes to a school! This made me think back to last week and the inaugural Pre-Nursery trip. The connections the children were able to make with their parents and friends while picking fruit or watching the goats followed by the sheer joy on their faces as they rolled around on the grass after their picnic lunches. Then we had Nursery and Reception sports day last Friday with the very real excitement of meeting Leo the Lion(s). The feeling the laughter gives me takes me back to one of my favourite films, Monsters Inc. (For those of you wo are not familiar with it, it is a Disney Pixar film where monsters harvest children’s screams to power the city. That is, until an escaped child makes its way back to the factory and it turns out that a child’s laughter is way more powerful.) It gets me every time! That, and Finding Nemo.

Children are just such a tonic and it’s been a real pleasure this week to actually engage with children. I’ve done some assemblies, I’ve done my usual walk-throughs down in EYFS, I was able to pop out to the respective sports days and I actually managed to go to see some other children this afternoon (it’s now after school!). One of the best things about my job is that I can ‘work avoid’ while actually working. Paperwork and communications can wait until there are no children or staff in school so I can catch up any time. I smile every time I go down to my ‘other’ office in EYFS because Nursery Bobcats made me some lovely labels and they made them because I asked for their help. All of our children have made amazing progress, but it is probably most pronounced down with our youngest children. It wasn’t until I put myself in a position out of my comfort zone and into an FS2 (Reception) class that I really appreciated the sheer joy of spending time around small people. It’s wonderful and it’s amazing. Just this morning I found myself lying on the floor of the Nursery Wolves classroom because I asked some of the children how they knew that their tower of blocks was taller than me. They were even moving the blocks so that they were in line with my feet to show that they were measuring from the right place. So amazing!

I still look back with such fond memories of my first primary class of Y6s; at that age they are finding themselves and finding their way in the world. I think that’s what I like best about the oldest and the youngest children in a primary school, they are all developing rapidly in so many ways. That is not to say that there is not real joy in any year group, they all have their unique pleasures. I’m really hoping that once assessments are finished and reports done that everybody is able to take some time to reflect and really savour every moment.

For those of you who were desperately disappointed to not hear about my musical musings, fear not I’m back on Spotify.

It’s ‘Easy 10s’. I have to admit that I’ve done a fair bit of fast forwarding. I don’t mind a bit of Will Young, but not too much! I’ve found Kodaline and High Hopes and am quite happy.

Happy Friday everyone! Last Friday in May…

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