September Song

By the time you read this, the new school year will have started. Unfortunately, not being clairvoyant, I am unable to predict what the R rate will be by then, or if areas of the country will be under partial lockdowns. However, in the words of my favourite 80s ballad, I know this much is true:

When they return, all girls at my school will welcomed back with open arms, albeit with those arms at a safe distance. Via Teams meetings last term, I vowed to some KS3 girls that I had missed their chatter so much that I would never again tell them off for talking in assembly. They knew I didn’t mean it, of course, but they did understand that, without their lively presence and joie de vivre, their school was a ghost of its former self during the Summer Term.

This new academic year will be disrupted, but I know that our school community will maintain our sense of togetherness that is integral to our school ethos. Our recent Facebook campaign noted that: “When the world stopped, we kept going”; this sentiment will continue, despite ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ that might be unceremoniously chucked at all of us if a second wave strikes. We may not be able to host certain events in our usual manner, but we will find a way of doing a virtual replacement. Last term, all of us who would have previously shuddered at the sheer thought of talking on camera in the past grappled with bad lighting, wobbly chins (that might have just been me, to be fair) and sheer stage fright to produce online videos, open days, award ceremonies and presentations.

Finally, it is a truth universally acknowledged that teachers will have been using a great deal of the summer holidays to plan and prepare for the learning they will be delivering in the year ahead. Therefore, I hope the beginning of term went well and that you are able to embrace any challenges that this brave new world of ours presents.

Bonne chance!