I thought I might have to break the agreement I have with myself and write this after I have gone home, however I am utilising my technology and am writing on my phone while I wait for my meeting to start....
As predicted, Thursday being the end of the week has completely thrown me! However, what a cracking week finished with an absolutely amazing day. I really do feel like a stuck record (I should probably say vinyl these days...) when I say how proud I am, but our students just keep surprising me. Well, that’s not entirely fair because I’m not entirely surprised per se, but I am so, so proud. I have had the pleasure of seeing most of y1-6 performing their poems, either written by themselves or a recitation. Not only should the children be proud of themselves, but you teachers should be proud of yourselves too because you enabled them to achieve. I loved the fact that we had some poems in Chinese and I really quite enjoyed listening to one in Irish too! One of my favourite parts was the adult participation and that every one was slightly different. I love it when the adults get involved and it was absolutely marvellous to see our wonderful LAs take part too. I really felt that we were able to come together as a community (of y1-6 at least) and that we are becoming more of a ‘family’, possibly for the first time in my time here at BISS (and I mean since I joined in 2011).
I started with the end of today, but now want to go back to the beginning of this week. I had some really wonderful conversations with some of our team about learning environments and what they and their teams would like to do with their areas. The excitement in the school is tangible and it feels like many have had a new lease of life heading into the final 9 weeks (eek...). I had a great moment this afternoon walking into the Meercats’ classroom. The children were clearly having a great time playing with the iPad boxes. No, not the iPads but the boxes. I am not a parent but I do know from my dealings with friends’ children that the box is often more appealing than the item it contained and this appeared to confirm this. I saw some beautiful pictures of earlier play and interaction with the same boxes and it just amazed me. Oh to be three years old again!
There are definitely aspects of my role that I would give up in a heartbeat (such as dealing with parental complaints), however if I have to do double the amount of the bits I don’t like in order to get to do the bits I DO like, then it’s all worth it. I love my job and I can’t say it enough. Indeed, I was listening to a podcast when the guy said ‘if you love your job, you never work a day in your life’. I’m much closer to that than I have for a long time, possibly since my training year. I remember when I was a secondary teacher and we were on wind-down once the external exams started and we always said that if you didn’t like your job then, you were in the wrong one. I also remember my first term 3 in primary and things ramped up. It was quite a shock I can tell you! Term 3 is always a funny one because it’s very much the time when we see massive changes in our children and the younger they are the bigger the change. Baby faces turn into children, and at the other end of primary children turn into adolescents. It’s really not as noticeable in a secondary school, most probably because the older the child the less ‘impact’ the passage of time has. Having said that, I have just seen some of the Y13s for an exam. There is quite a difference between them now and when I taught them in year 5!
As I said, I started writing while waiting for a meeting, however it now really is Friday and I’m now finishing my thoughts while having my hair done. I decided to take the opportunity of a cheeky day off to exchange my silver highlights to blonde ones so have an inordinate amount of tin foil adorning my head. It’s really not a good look!
I’ve not been at my desk so, for the first time in a while, I have no music to share with you. I was listening to a podcast series called Persyou in the taxi on the way here if you’re at all interested in listening to leadership discussions.
So it’s goodbye and happy Friday everyone and see you in May...!
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