Head’s blog
This week we held our Year 1 Grandparents and Special Person Tea Party for the third year in a row. Our lawn was adorned with bunting and hay bales and it was a beautiful sunny day. The grandparents arrived first and then the children were reunited with them. It was really touching and heart-warming to see the faces of both light up as they saw each other and witness the lovely relationship between child and grandparent or special family member/friend.
The principal behind the event is to encourage our children to host a tea party and take care of their guests. The children settled their visitors and then fetched and served them an array of treats; scones, cake, tea and juice. They take this responsibility very seriously and found themselves enjoying the role reversal of caring for their elders rather than being cared for by them. As a Head I have a big focus on family and our relationship with parents, so meeting grandparents or other family members helps to extend this relationship and feel more connected to the children.
The other principal behind the event is nurture respect for the more elderly. Our children live in a society where the older generation does not always get the care or recognition they deserve. This event helps to reaffirm the place grandparents and the wider family have in our children’s upbringing and to encourage our generation of little people to have a deep respect for them.
The grandparents and special people also had the opportunity to go into the school with their grandchild and see their classrooms and learning journals. It was hard to decipher who was more proud; the children or the grandparents! Either way it was a beautiful sight and one I will remember for a long time, not least because my own daughter was lucky enough to have her grandparents present too – and they happen to be my own mother and father so that was a bit of a treat.
I am sure that many memories were made that afternoon that will remain forever.
