When in doubt go to the standards. If you have read any of my blogs previously you will know of my eclectic music tastes. Just now Michael Buble and Harry Connick have been gracing the iPod. Being end of session it is always hectic but of course this one has added ingredients! Thus a more soothing selection has been my selection of weekend music recently.
I have been really lax in writing my blog for loads of reasons both school and family based. However, this is the very last one ever because I am not returning to school for the first time in 53 years after the summer break. I went in to my primary school in the Easter intake, being 5 years old in the spring and I have stayed ever since. The 38 years spent as a teacher have been everything I hoped for and so more. There have been highs and lows, tough times and lots of fun. The central thing has always been my enjoyment and commitment to my job. That has never changed and remains just the same now. It is funny that when I told people I was taking early retirement some thought I was ill and others thought I was unhappy. Those who really knew me knew that it was just the right time to start the next chapter.
Things change and that is as it should be. We should never want it not to. I do believe that the best is yet to come, a different set of goals and experiences, not just for me but for our school.
I believe that with teams within the school of teachers, parents, children, support staff and auxiliary staff along with colleagues and friends we have been on a positive and developing journey. We are like a family; we fall out, we go in the huff and then we make up and start again- no matter what age we are. People ask about the changes I have seen and been involved in over my career and of course there are many. Some were great, some were not all we had hoped and some are in the very early stages. However, the constant component has always been the children and the community. The things that can be barriers or worries don’t change much. End of session is always hectic. Christmas is always exhausting and fun. Report writing is always stressful in terms of time and technology. However, I do remember have just as much stress with my carbon paper when I started writing reports – who knew there was a wrong side! The way we find out about things has changed tremendously. Social media and the World Wide Web are amazing tools for information sharing and communication but oh, the layers it can add to things. The misunderstandings, the misinformation and the confusion that can take hold within minutes. I am of that age when, as a primary school pupil my mum shouted my name to tell me to come in for tea; she didn’t text me. My relaxation space was all around me- it was the local community. It was different, it was a different time but I was a child and a young person with all the hang-ups, dreams and fears of any young person today. That is why schools and their communities are so important because we look to the future. Our school is going to be going through a huge period of change in the new session. Every August is a new beginning but for us we have the start of a huge refurbishment, a new management team and a new education service. Exciting and challenging but we aren’t looking back; that’s not the way we are going. We are all going forward. The awfully clever DHT is going to be an illustrious HT in another authority and I am going to find a sunny spot in a garden or on a couch, just within reach of a coffee or any other liquid depending on the time of day, and a book. I am going to take holidays out with term time and have long lunches on a week day! I will stay up late on a Sunday night not caring a bit that a film is starting at 9 o’clock! The awfully clever DHT and I are so lucky. As Winnie-the-Pooh will tell you, we were lucky enough to be part of something so good that it is sad to leave. But leaving we are. People have been incredibly kind in so many ways and for everyone, especially ourselves; we firmly believe that the best is absolutely yet to come.