2019 is about Positivity
Welcome back to everyone! We have had a wonderfully calm and easy transition into the new year. Children are all settled in and staff are energised and inspired as new relationships form and routines set in.
I love new beginnings as much as the next person. I love the challenges and the unknown that go hand in hand with change. Change can be very unsettling and daunting for us as adults, how much more so can it be for children? So I would like to consider the things that I use to manage change that work for me.
Firstly, I have to understand what change is; it is newness, something different, expected or sudden. It is an opportunity to grow, learn and develop. It is kind of like a building, each floor adds on opportunity, opportunity which opens the space for growth and development. Carrying on with this slightly oversimplified analogy...a building is only as strong and as grounded as it's foundation. a weak or poorly laid foundation may suffice for a while, but eventually, it will lead to cracks opening up and ultimately can even cause the collapse of the structure if too much weight is put onto the base.
In school, my years teaching showed me time and again, those bases are most effectively solidified when there are connecting supports which help keep the foundation both in place and fortify it for additions. When we go into new situations with a framework in place from which we can expand, we have a wider berth from which to grow and explore. An example, when children come to school knowing that if they cry, are hurt or need help, there is someone to assist, that becomes a framework for trust. It gives them leeway to try something new because they know from experience that they will get help, that failure won't be a problem with the people around them and that they have opportunities to try and try again. This is the foundation upon which learning can take place.
Last year, we built our foundation and used our theme of Mindfulness to solidify and cement it. Now in 2019, I would like to build on that foundation of mindfulness and introduce our theme of Positivity.
Wishing ML and all our families, a year of mindful positivity and success. Working together to choose positivity and enjoy the benefits both in our school and the broader communities in which we live.
“Your ordinary acts of love and hope point to the extraordinary promise that every human life is of inestimable value”