Well, it’s Friday and that is Friday of week one completed.
For new staff, I should put this strange and seemingly random email into some kind of context. Two academic years ago now I was in Thailand and unable to return to China. It was right at the very beginning of the Covid 19 epidemic (soon to be pandemic) and we had staff literally across the world from North America to Oceania and I was very conscious that the only thing that would get us through would be to keep our bonds as a team. Many of us had only joined the BISS Puxi community that same academic year and so the bonds that we had formed weren’t necessarily all that strong and we only worked together for just over one term. So, I decided that I would write to all the primary staff every Friday to try and keep those relationships alive. The topic is often something completely random; sometimes it’s more about me, sometimes it’s more about the school, sometimes it could be something completely different (I dread to think what picture I have painted of my poor old parents). And most importantly, you don’t have to read it!
As you know I’m sitting in a hotel room in quarantine in Xiamen and so this has been a very unusual start to an academic year for me. Leading the school remotely it’s not easy. However, when you have an incredible team around you it makes a really, really big difference. I’m not in the building to feel the vibe but right from the very first day with just Senior Leaders (I was still thousands of miles away), I could still feel the positivity and the good vibe and now just a few short weeks later, the building is once again filled with all of the different people who make the magic come to life. Every time I have a conversation, read an email or minutes from a meeting, I can feel the positivity, I can feel the teamwork in the tone. It’s not been an easy week for anyone, first weeks never are. I’m hoping that our new staff both on and off-site have settled in and are enjoying their classes and are feeling very much part of the team and part of the BISS Puxi family.
As is often the case, I wasn’t sure what I would write about today until I actually started writing. As always, something I read earlier sparked my thinking and cemented my decision. I read a post from our very own Mr Hitchings on LinkedIn that talked about being cheerful. He said you should try to be cheerful to the first 10 people you meet and you’ll be surprised at how many smiles you get back. Mr Hitchings is one of the most positive and cheerful people I know and I don’t think he is he saves his cheerful greetings for the first 10 people he sees. I’ve known him a long time now and I can definitely say it’s not just that he is cheerful with me. I witness him emanating cheer and positivity to everybody he sees whether they are teachers, parents, guards, children or anyone involved with the school regardless of who he is dealing with. Being away made me realise that one of the things I can say I’m most proud about BISS Puxi primary school is that we are positive we are. We are friendly and I’m sure that you continue to be so even as tired as you are.
Before I finish, I should say that another thing that became a bit of a habit was my sharing of my current musical listening. I am almost always writing this on a Friday either on my way to work or after work and so I listen to music while I do to help me concentrate. I can’t remember why, but I started to tell people what I was listening to. There was definitely one time when someone mentioned it to me, so I started to do it regularly. So here it is: I’m back on Spotify and it’s currently Tiny Dancer covered by Florence and the Machine from the radio BBC Radio 1 live Lounge playlist. You’ll get to know that my musical tastes are eclectic shall we say (some may say outdated) although I do try to listen to new things. The Radio 1 Live Lounge compilations are some of the only CDs Joseph and I actually own (of a collection of approximately 30 between us, the majority are Bryan Adams (mine, although one duplicate) with a Top Gun and a Britney Spears thrown in (I’ll leave you to guess) and they’re all in our garage in the UK) because both of us refuse to buy any and used to listen to the radio instead.
That’s all from me. Happy Friday everybody and I wish you all a relaxing safe and relaxing weekend and look forward to next week which will bring a whole new set of challenges and lots more smiles and happiness along with them.
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