It’s Friday again and October is almost gone. Not quite sure how, but my brother’s birthday is looming… he’ll turn 49 on Tuesday. That’s nearly 50… Wow! It doesn’t seem like 5 minutes that we were building dens in the garden and fighting over an armchair (he always won, he’s way bigger and stronger than me).
We’re not great at the whole emotion thing in my family, but he’s my big brother and I love him dearly. We share the same sense of humour and a love for cider and real ale. He’s got an encyclopaedic knowledge of ‘useless information’ and is absolutely the person you want in a pub quiz (although he’s not got a clue about soaps or pop culture). He was who I called when I got my car stuck in a flood aged 18 and he’s the one who used to pick me up from a friend’s house so I could stay out after 10pm. He’s got my back and woe-betide anyone who’s crosses him because I’ve got his!
So, what’s this got to do with anything? Well, I feel like, as a school, we are really getting into a groove and making some real strides forward. We have had two incredibly busy weeks since Golden Week, and this is not anything unusual because we are a busy school.
Just this week, I have had very brief conversations with different staff members. Some of these have been in passing and simple observations about what is happening in the here and now, while others have been deliberate moments to thank them for something. Most, if not all, of these have, however, resulted in a response of ‘Thanks, I really needed that.’ It made me think once again about the power of a few words. We are all busy and we are all working flat out to provide the children with what they need, however it is really important to take a moment to recognise each other. We all hold such value to others, and it is just too easy to forget that in a moment of feeling less than upbeat, especially when we take such care to make sure we are buoying up our students.
We are a team; we are a close team and we look out for each other. We know that. We are a great team and we are a successful team. We know that too. We are always striving to be better because that’s what great people do and we don’t settle for ‘ok’ and not do we want to. A teacher’s job is never done because there is always something more you can do. Just a tweak here, a little extra there and the worst part of that is the feeling of wanting to do more but not necessarily being able to do it. The ‘If I just had 5 more minutes…’ feeling is a constant, but we all know that you take those extra 5 minutes and another 5 and another and so it goes on. So we have to give ourselves a break and be proud of what we have achieved; be proud of our students and be proud that we are professionals who work hard to help them achieve their best.
As I said, I’m not great at telling my family how much they mean to me, so I’m hoping I do a good job of telling my BISS family that. I hope that you also know that I would walk over hot coals for you all.
Happy Friday everyone.
Music today is Florence and the Machine and ‘Hunger’. I’m a late adopter but think she’s got an incredible voice and like a good blast.
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