By the time this goes to press, the academic year will have ended for all school-age children. As I said goodbye to my students via Teams in early July, several things were mentioned about what we as a community were looking forward to in the new academic year. So, fingers, crossed, here are some of the things I will be eagerly anticipating when we return in September:
No more bubbles! With any luck, we can start to have events where we do not need have to have everyone in the dreaded year bubbles. We all understood the rationale behind it but, in a school that has fifteen-year groups that interact with other all the time, this was an extremely difficult feat to pull off, although we did it splendidly. The tiny tots in Nursery have really missed the presence of the Sixth Form in the Nursery for after-school care, and vice versa. No more bubbles=Community Events My school loves a good singsong, whether that be a lusty rendition of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ in assembly, House competitions-where the song choices resemble my 80s playlist- or our annual, glorious musical at the Gala Theatre. We did our best during the various lockdowns, self-isolations, and bubbles, but the ability to be back together, to really interact and sing is going to be absolutely glorious. Also, we have already booked our Nine Lessons and Carols at Durham Cathedral, one of the most important events in our calendar and I will remember to put on low-heeled, nonslip shoes for this event this time, as the Head teetering along the aisle to deliver the Ninth Lesson is never a good look. Having a coffee with colleagues in the Staff Room Our staff room, probably like many others, has been a very uninviting place for the last year, with more than half the chairs being taken away and yellow and black tape around ‘no go’ areas, resembling a crime scene. We all got used to it but none of us liked it. I said that the yellow and black tape made it look like the Hacienda from the 80s, but this fell on deaf ears- most of the rest of the staff were either in nappies during the Madchester era or spent their spare time in Klute… Reclaiming the Junior House Hall! When I look back upon the last ten months, I am amazed at what we had to do as a school community, like every other school in the country. Our Junior Hall had to be fitted up as an LFT centre and it remained like that for two terms. We did it all with great grace and sense of purpose, but it will be lovely to reclaim the Junior Hall for the purposes it was intended ie assemblies, choir rehearsals and, hopefully, the glorious Nativity Plays that I always associate with this space. Being a Headteacher as opposed to the COVID-controller During this period, Senior Leadership Teams in every school have had to become experts at interpreting Government guidance at a very rapid rate, sometimes having a matter of hours to change or amend school policies and procedures. I have never been more thankful for my ability to speed read without losing comprehension, a skill I learned via an accelerated learning programme I did twenty-five years ago when I was off work with chronic tonsilitis. Here’s hoping that, come September, we will be back to doing what we do best ie leading our schools and teaching our pupils. Here’s to the new academic year!