Thursday 2nd April - thankfulness

Date: 2nd Apr 2020 @ 8:55pm

The internet and technology can be tricky things to navigate when you’re primary age. I don’t mean how to use things; it’s abundantly clear the children know a lot more than the adults when it comes to these things!  But, on occasions we have had to deal with incidents and fall outs between pupils that originated on-line and usually out of school. However, in these difficult times, we are seeing how it can be used in a positive way; of course this has always been the case – but now it is allowing family and friends to keep in touch; it is maintaining social cohesion, enabling teachers to continue to set work for children and communicate with them, even in a basic way. This week, I have lost count of the number of Zoom chats that I have had, with hundreds of colleagues from Cheshire West and Chester and across different parts of the UK. 

So, what have I been up to today?  I can say that it was the best and the worst of this whole situation.  I cannot lie, giving my daughter individual tuition and seeing her learn a new mathematical concept (multiplication of fractions) and feel positive about it was absolutely marvellous.  Juggling essential work muddies the water a little but finding the balance is crucial.

At the moment, I am thinking really hard about what and who are important, what we as a society place the most value on. We have to value what is really important.  Where would we be without our caretakers, shelf-stackers, van delivery drivers, checkout workers, care workers and of course our NHS? Very often the most undervalued members of our communities. Today I received a shop from ASDA – I made a point to have a chat to the delivery drivers, asking how they were, telling them how grateful I was for their service (even though there were at least ten substitutes for items!).  Would I have spent that amount of time to converse a couple of weeks ago?  No, probably not.  This experience has really put things into a lot of perspective and made me a lot more thankful for these small, you could say, trivial things.  Who would have thought that a simple trip to the park or a drive out to Delamere Forest would become such a treat, but what will we give for that in a few weeks’ time?

Finally for today, to all the pupils at home – we really miss you! I hope you are finding the work set by your teachers OK. What are you up to?  I know you are sharing your work with your teachers through the website but, if you haven’t, why not ask a parent to email your teacher?  And parents, I know many of you are on Facebook but, if you have a Twitter account, it is very easy to tag us in (@AshtonHayesPS) in order to show the things that are going on at home.  We would love to see the things you have been doing! Are you learning to cook, trialling a new art technique, teaching yourself how to use a computer programme? How is your musical instrument practice going?  We would love to hear from you.

Best wishes as always.  Ashtonory Episode 5 below.

Mr Hover