There’s an old Chinese curse …. or at least there’s a well-known English saying that purports to be an old Chinese curse, that says “May you live in interesting times”. Well, it seems that the interesting times have caught up with us again. The only word that can really explain this week is ‘surreal’ and in the interests of trying to preserve my own sanity, I’m going to have a go at writing things down; not so much for posterity, but as a sort of light-hearted record of the fact that the world really did, seemingly overnight, turn upside down.
We knew it was coming. We knew it was just a matter of time. But at that moment – when the announcement was made – the world seemed to stop. Just for a second. Not for long. Just long enough for us all to catch a breath. And then the wave of questions broke over our heads; What do you mean when you say the schools are closing? What does that involve? For everyone? Who are the ‘key workers’ you keep mentioning? Through Easter? What are we teaching? To whom? How?
I’m pretty sure that everyone working in a UK school had that moment. The relief of a decision finally made, followed immediately by escalating uncertainty. I’m also fairly sure that I’m not the only one who had a bit of a wobble this morning when the complete lack of answers became abundantly clear. It’s no secret, to anyone who knows me, that I don’t deal well with uncertainty. Once I have a framework to operate within, I can deal with most things, but not knowing will always tip me over the edge.
This morning, it wasn’t the support from friends and co-workers that got me back on track (although it was hugely appreciated), but the need to be positive for the kids. If the decision to cancel exams is confusing for us, it is devastating for the young people who were due to sit them. Especially as they have no idea what the replacement will be and how this might impact their futures. From the moment I entered the building this morning, I was faced with a barrage of enquiries about what was happening, what they should do … and of course the inevitable dismay about the leaving days and prom they’ll miss out on (they have, after all, got their priorities firmly in place!).
It’s not just the Year 11s though; all the students that entered my room today seemed a little ‘off’. A little subdued in places. A little more focused in others. I had two visits from Year 10 students; one who wanted to collect his annotated copy of Macbeth to keep reading, another who came to ask what text we were going to be looking at next so he could start reading. This led to a long (and very lovely) conversation about how we were going to ensure that his group of very able students wouldn’t lose ground and how I was planning to communicate about work. Following this, my particularly chatty Year 9 class, despite working alongside an entire extra class full of students, even worked on a piece of creative writing in a manner that almost approached quietly for an hour! It never ceases to amaze me that just when you think you know them, they manage to pull something out of the bag and surprise you.
The staff though, have been no surprise at all. I’m really lucky to work in a school where the staff are, to coin a phrase, a ‘family’. I mean, yes, we have the occasional weird uncle that no one wants to sit next to and a couple of wicked stepmothers, but on the whole everyone is firmly on the same team. A bit blunt and sweary in places, but isn’t that part of being a family? So when, half way through one of my lessons this morning, I was summoned out of my room by two very serious-faced colleagues, I was slightly worried about what fresh disaster had arisen. Turned out though, that the aforementioned colleagues had decided to place an order from our local sandwich shop and were roaming the corridors collecting orders. Needless to say, the staffroom was remarkably peaceful at lunchtime as we all happily stuffed our faces with carvery rolls! Sometimes it’s the little things that keep us smiling.
Onwards and upwards … let’s see what tomorrow brings.
absolutelynotnormal 