What brilliant weather we have been enjoying this week. Everyone just seems to have a bit more bounce about them when the sun is shining don’t they? I can’t believe we are almost at the October break already. As ever, there seems so much to do and so little time to get it all done in!
I am watching the rugby while listening to ELO singing, working and occasionally shouting at the two teams battling it out on the screen. My son plays rugby and I have spent many a Saturday in the wind and rain and sometimes lovely autumn weather watching games. I have also spent several hours in various A and E departments of hospitals around the country too! I like autumn weather. As I am singing along to All Over The World I got to thinking about our world, the world of the school and how we try to give our young people a sense of belonging and being part of a community. I also considered how we try to widen our horizons and try to give our youngsters a sense of their place in the wider world.
Our P4/5 class have had a great time watching Newsround and other types of reporting to find out about how we find out about things, find information and, importantly, what is happening locally, nationally and internationally. We successfully supported a national charity last week (cakes still being sold this week) and next week our Harvest focus is on helping our local community through our support for one of our local foodbanks. It can be challenging to bring the wider world into school and have opportunities for us to venture out into it. The obvious constraint of time and budget can be challenging. Sometimes things are just too far away for us to visit but we are quite open to visitors coming into see us. Luckily, the world of technology has made it so much easier to see the wider world and interact with people form near and far. We are quite comfortable with Skype and Facetime in our lives and the GLOW network allows schools to link up and be part of a wide range of experiences. At school we are fortunate that the awfully clever DHT (recently proven by his successful completion of the post graduate Scottish Qualification for Headship) has always pushed us to use technology to help us all be better connected and informed. This term he has coordinated, plugged in, muttered and mumbled at us, fiddled with wires and plugs as we have become connected on Twitter and Class Dojo as well as relaunching a new and improved school web page.
As the dinosaur that was heard to mutter “ I don’t know why I need a computer in school and what is a log in anyway?” many years ago, I continue to be surprised by how much I rely on technology to do so much of my job. The children are always at the centre of everything we do but with technology I can connect with parents and carers and associated professionals easily. Getting information or support can often be a phone call or a couple of clicks away. It is something we take for granted but actually when you think about it; it is pretty amazing. Notwithstanding the odd blip when everything shuts down on us, we use technology to enhance, challenge and engage our learning community. We use it to bring the world the world into our school; the beautiful sights such as the autumn colours, the news, the past, songs and rhymes and everything in-between – and don’t even get me started on the joys of online shopping…………………….