What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Come July-the-something-or-other, you’re about to find out.
The end of term invariably presents everything still to do with almost no time in which to do it. This sizeable classroom conundrum causes a ripple in space and time; a ‘Big Bang’ which is more to do with ‘ends’ than beginnings.
In about four weeks’ time, Elvis will have left the school building. Invariably, there are about twelve weeks of teaching and learning to be squeezed in before then. The concertina effect is in full swing, as all those things that have been pushed down the line reach the end of the line. The daily briefing is anything but; it has more items queued up than the M20 during peak ‘summer getaway’. This has nothing to do with the inaction of French border control, however, but quite the opposite. This is about actions. A lot of them.
Reports need reporting. Assessments need assessing. Performance needs to be managed. Managers need to perform. A third of the National Curriculum still needs teaching. In some cases, six months of learning must miraculously materialise. Sports Day needs to happen (an event that must pass uneventfully). Year 6 have a week’s residency in the school hall with their ‘interpretation’ of ‘The Tempest’. Displays need to be taken down. Displays need to be put up. Exercise books need handing out, but not before everything-that-can-be-used-in-evidence is redacted. New books need labelling. Classrooms need to be cleared. Cloakrooms need erasing (fifty percent of lost property seemingly belongs to no one). The leavers-do requires organising and the children have to enjoy it as much as last year’s cohort – or else. Parents need inviting to the leavers’ assembly. A leavers’ assembly needs creating for the parents. Transition days, handover meetings and new intake ‘drop-ins’ abound…
None of which matters one iota to Neil Dance. Neil’s birthday is on the 15th July. Every year. It’s hard to overstate the magnitude of this event, yet Neil will try from the very beginning of the month. He loves the countdown, and the excitement builds every single day. When you’re seven years old, birthdays and Christmases are like all of your birthdays and Christmases have come at once. He’s not winding down, he’s building up. And so he should.
And so should you.
It’s not only a special time of year for Neil. It is for everyone who works in school. Call it a rite of passage, coming of age – call it what you will – July is about much more than going through the motions. It’s about emotion. It’s a moment in time which is a privilege to be party to. It’s simultaneously about ends and new beginnings, and for many, the world will never be quite the same again.
Cherish the last few weeks with the children for there is nothing quite like them. Squeeze every last drop of enjoyment from the class that has become your extended family over the course of the last eleven months. People come and people go, but the school will never be quite the same place as it is right now. It is a defining moment in time.
In your time. Savour it. For this is what life’s about. You’ve earned the right to enjoy it.