Last word
Helen Burge wonders whether it’s time to rethink the school calendar
H
ow many types of calendar can you name? I don’t mean an advent countdown or a sports list of planned
events. Rather I’m thinking of those calendars – such as the Gregorian, Jewish or Chinese – that observe particular rituals and are often in sync with the cycles of the sun or the moon, with specific days of celebration. For many cultures and religions,
a new year signifies introspection and reflection, as well as asking for forgiveness and planning future change. All this is celebrated with special foods, rites and rituals. For instance, Songkran, the Thai new year, is a celebration of thankfulness where people pour water on Buddha statues to represent purification and the washing away of one’s sins and bad luck. There are also a lot of fun water fights! I can’t see a water fight featuring
in many school calendars – imagine the risk assessment! And over the past couple of years many planned events were unlikely to have happened at all. Some will not
have been missed, but others – especially those rites of passage or key celebrations and performances – really have been. I hope your school has been able
to reintroduce those events that everyone loves as we go into the final term of the academic year. Maybe the two-year hiatus has given time for reflection on which events are the most meaningful, and how these events can be refined and improved, possibly with a net zero approach as we all step up to climate challenge. Sadly, some schools will have lost
key members of staff, governors or PTAs who helped deliver those events which created fantastic memories for the school community. So a priority must be to balance creating great memories with extra workload. Work fatigue and burnout are common features in schools at the moment and guarding against them may well impact events in the school calendar. In schools we also do the opposite
of most religions and cultures – we celebrate the end of the (academic)
year, rather than the start. This may be as much about the relief of physically managing to get to the end of another year, as celebrating the achievements of that year! But maybe a lighter diary of events in Term 6 would free up time for your teams to reflect on the ‘what went wells’ (WWWs) and plan for the ‘even better ifs’ (EBIs) that could then be introduced at the start of the new academic year (when they are often rushed or forgotten). It might feel as though lockdown
provided almost too much time for reflection and that now you just want to get on with life and catch up on all that was missed out on. I completely subscribe to that and have now filled my personal calendar with opportunities to meet up with family and friends. I need to be careful I don’t overfill it, though, and that I allow some pauses and time to be still. Then I will naturally be reflecting and gaining an insight on the next move forward. So I raise a glass to your good
health and happiness as you celebrate the end of the academic year. I also hope you find space to reflect fully on your personal, work and organisational achievements. Perhaps you might even get some free time to write them all down, so that you have a list ready for your next governor report, appraisal, CV or application form. Such adjustments to our calendars might be just the thing we need to fully prepare to deliver EBIs plans and changes for the next year.
Helen Burge is deputy chief operations officer at The Priory Learning Trust and SRMA with Cotswold Beacon Academy Trust. @DeputyCOOatTPLT
42 SUMMER 2022 FundEd
IMAGE: LUDMILA LYSAK/
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
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