Head’s blog
After nearly 18 months of Zoom assemblies today we had our first face to face assembly. The children were delightful as ever and behaved as though the experience was perfectly normal, walking in to music with big smiles and plenty of waves to friends and teachers. For the staff, we felt somewhat emotional as it has felt so long since our school community has been in the same place at the same time. I spotted tears in eyes, through my own.
Our assembly featured a range of different homes of varying shapes and sizes, starting with a real birds’ nest which was home to some beautiful birds. Several children were given a bird and invited to fly it into the nest! We looked at Barbie’s dream house, Spiderman’s house, a house shaped like a shoe and even Mrs Simon’s house was featured. We talked about your house being your home and the place where you live and are loved by your family. It doesn’t matter what your house looks like on the outside, it is the people on the inside that matter. We also moved on to animal homes – even worms have homes in the soil!
Finally, we settled on a very special house – our Grimsdell home! A home from home where we are all loved and cared for like we are loved and cared for at our family home.
Joining a school, or even returning to school for a brand new year, sparks a sense of belonging which helps to make children feel safe, secure and confident.
Over the last 18 months it has been harder to create that sense because we have all been separate bubbles. Little parts of a larger whole where togetherness was experienced through Zoom – or a fire drill! This did become the new norm and we made the best of it, children adapting and enjoying these events with their usual joy. However, today’s assembly reminded me that being in space and time and real life with your community is irreplaceable.
Now more than ever, we know that life can change in a flash, so we savour these moments.
