We are nearing the end of our formal year of education within our Junior school and I am very aware of two specific year groups who will have my full attention and thoughts next week – Sixth Form last year in the Junior school and Junior Infants first year in the Junior school. However, I must thank all of your teachers, parents, staff and most importantly all 626 young men for the hard work, growth mindset, resilience and positivity shown especially over the past nine weeks.
I reflected upon Mr. McAleer’s piece last week and specifically his excellent choice of poem from Kathleen O’Meara. Through this journey we have all experienced good and bad days and I quote Mr. McAleer when he states –
While the lockdown period has been one of isolation the healing is going to be one of laughter, jokes, songs, stories, and play.
Hope will play a huge part in this healing process and I agree with Mr. McAleer my hope is not to buy a new pair of trainers or the most up to date Smart phone – my hope is to see staff, parents and most importantly the boys back in our school with the noise of laughter, the buzz of learning and the energy, excitement of seeing close friends again. Reflecting on this it will be starting the first day of school for teachers, parents, and boys all over again!
Nonetheless, my job in consultation and guidance from our Junior school board, over the coming months must be to ensure that we have put training, procedures and planning in place that makes it safe for all of our Willow family to come back to school safely. This has begun with a meeting on Thursday with our Willow Medical committee, experts who have worked and are continuing to work on the front line to ensure all of us remain safe during this pandemic. I sincerely thank our Medical Committee (made up of Willow parents) for giving us their valuable time and expertise, however they are doing this to ensure that the most important people in our school are safe when we can and will return to face to face teaching and learning within our classrooms.
Therefore, I end by repeating Mr. McAleer’s challenge –
I challenge you all to hope. Think of the things that you hold dear and remember that with each passing day you are one day closer to that hope or wish becoming a reality. And there will be laughter and jokes throughout the school corridors once more and I cannot wait!