Tuesday

What an absolutely glorious day. I had to take my coat off because I was in such a sunny spot this morning. I have so much to be grateful for and my cup definitely felt full this morning.

There is a lot in the news and on TV about covid at the moment and it is hard to believe that we are coming up to 5 years since the first lockdown. When the announcement came in 2020 I had a couple of minutes thinking that school would be locked down too then we heard that we would be open to key worker children. To be honest that was quite scary because so much was unknown. Obviously we weren’t the NHS who were the absolute heroes, but we were scared to think that we couldn’t be part of the lockdown. Teachers felt vulnerable. We got into a routine though and I learnt more about infection management than I ever thought I would have to know. Staff did catch covid but thankfully we all recovered. Not everyone did and if your family was affected you are in my thoughts.

I was chatting to another staff member this morning and we were talking about the generation who experienced the World Wars and we also thought about all the people in the world who today are suffering because of conflict or climate change. The last surviving Battle of Britain pilot has died and what stories he has taken with him. At the grand old age of 61 I have my own stories of teaching without technology, my grandparents having an outside loo, the long walk to secondary school with all my bags because we only had one car and dad used that for work, wearing Sunday best for church and so many more memories that are stored away and love to come out. I said to one of my lovely office staff yesterday that us ‘old uns’ have often been there, done that and have worn the T-shirt so many times it wouldn’t even sell on Vinted.

Every minute that goes by is the past. History is constantly moving and things get further and further away from living memory. I have aged typing this and the children are most likely to have moved on from their guided reading and are on to the next part of their day. Going back to the start of this blog we need fill ourselves with gratitude, help others whenever we can, and learn from our mistakes but also forgive ourselves. I have said before that everyone has a time when they have behaved or done something that they regret but as long as lessons are learnt then we can and should move on.

We will be singing ‘When it’s a Sunny Day’ in assembly today and I will look with gratitude at all the faces in front of me. Some little faces may have had a tricky day but our children are 4-7 years old. They don’t have full control of their emotions and reactions yet, actually none of us have if we are truly honest, but we will teach them and help them to understand how to handle any upset or conflict. We will sing heartily then I will send them all home. Oh, before I go, I know that some children are absolute angels at school then something happens when they get home. We all need a release though don’t we and it is very hard to be an angel all the time!