Recently I completed a professional learning course through The Rainbow Clinic in New South Wales where participants were presented with the following graphic, summarising the interrupted schooling our students have experienced these last two years. It is a sobering reminder that if the start to the school year has been challenging in any way, then this is not without reason, and I felt it was really important to share this with you.
COVID-19 has changed the world in so many ways and as adults, it’s very easy to forget the profound effect this has had on our children’s experience of childhood, and their schooling. For me, this very simple visual provided a clear change to the thinking around where our students are at not only academically, but also emotionally. Sometimes a clarification of perspective allows us to refocus on what is truly important, and where our responsibilities lie.
Here in the Primary School, we have revelled in the return of our students and the magic they bring with them that permeates our classrooms and daily lives. It’s easy to be lost in their laughter and animated recounts of holiday adventures, detailed explanations of complicated rules to invented games and excited sightings of rabbits and bugs around the school grounds. There’s a comfort in that. A sense of normal. But I think it’s also important to acknowledge their “normal” and the fact that it hasn’t actually been very “normal” at all. Perhaps just being aware of this, being understanding, being patient, and manifesting that gentleness in our expectations, both at school and at home, is the way forward as we navigate this new school year together.
Charmaine Rye
Head of Primary / Deputy Principal.
