Welcome back!
As I am sure you know, each academic year begins with an induction period for staff. This year, our new staff began their induction period on Wednesday 9th August. In our induction we cover everything from character education and virtues to daily routines, organising school trips and various other key policies. It is quite an intensive programme for teachers but absolutely essential for an effective start. Whilst knowing how to take a register and where to find stationary are essential pieces of information for the successful operation of a school, you also want to ensure that everyone understands our school culture and how all of those elements align with our identity as a Lasallian school.
When checking in with staff through that induction period, I asked numerous staff how they were finding things and their response was often, ‘it is great but now I just can’t wait to meet the students.’ To me, that’s what you want to hear from staff – that enthusiasm to get started in the classroom and doing the job we love – teaching.
This week, we welcomed back all of our students and many of them have done a remarkable job with settling in. There’s been quite a lot of changes – new classes, new teachers, new canteen, new play areas and that change, for some, can be overwhelming. However, along with support from their teachers they’ve supported each other.
I shared with staff that, in the High School, our new student induction is entirely student led. I’m always very proud to say that. Annually, our Student Representative Council plans a whole morning of activities to integrate new students into the High School. This year, our Student Representative Council was joined by our Lasallian Youth Movement to ensure that all of our new students felt welcomed. Our SRC President, Janice, along with a team of volunteers went out of their way to help others. I received an email on Tuesday evening from a new Year 7 student who wrote to me to tell me that, ‘so far, I love the school and the experiences.’
I heard a lovely story from the first day too when a new student in Year 3, at the end of the day, thanked his class for the way that they have welcomed him to the school. I was very impressed with that expression of gratitude and the confidence to say that to people that you have just met, but also to our returning students in that year group who had clearly made an effort to show kindness and empathy.
To hear all of this, directly from the students, is the best feedback we can receive.
Of course, every student’s experience is different and for some students getting to grips with all of these new routines and making new friends can be a challenge and another key part of the start of the new year is supporting those students too. It may be the case that a child has not only started a new school but also moved to a new country and is learning in a language that is not their mother tongue. It may even be the case that a returning student, who may have been with us for many years, is now undergoing a period of transition – moving from Elementary School to High School, moving from Key Stage 3 to the IGCSE or sitting in their first A Level or IBDP class.
How do we help those students?
Well, it starts with relationships. As a starting point, every student should be ‘seen’. I was walking along the Maths corridor in the High School and saw one of our teachers standing at his door. It was the first A Level Maths class of the year with his new class and as the students entered the classroom he shook hands and made eye contact with every student as they entered the room. If that was my first class of the year with a new teacher, that would put me at ease from the start – it was a mark of respect from teacher to student and it was reciprocated by the students in turn.
Often, when a child is feeling overwhelmed or vulnerable, the signs may be very subtle. Perhaps the child is quieter than usual or, by contrast, finding it a challenge to follow routines in the way they usually do. A child may not be sitting with their usual friendship group at break or lunch time.
The teacher that has strong relationships will notice these subtle changes and offer support. Building a culture where everyone understands that this is part of our role as educators, is what we are trying to achieve and finding staff whose philosophy around education matches with ours is part of our recruitment process – we ask those questions to find people who believe what we do.
Relationships with parents are also part of this and that’s why we start the year with our welcome back sessions. Yes, the information about school routines are important but the most important part of those afternoons is when, over some refreshments, a connection is made between the parent and the teacher they are entrusting their childrens’ education to. When those relationships are strong and founded on respect, that is when children thrive. They thrive because there is alignment between the messages of support they receive from home and the messages of support they receive from school.
You never forget your favourite teacher from school. Sometimes the relationships that we have with our teachers during our formative years, many years down the line, can still shape how we feel about a particular subject or how we feel about school in general.
It may be the case that your teacher was knowledgeable about their subject and had a way of explaining things that helped you to understand challenging concepts. It will certainly be the case that that teacher made you feel ‘seen’ and valued. They took the time to help you, to coach you, to guide you.
As your child starts their new school year, it is my hope and belief that your child will find that teacher at St. Joseph’s.
To everyone within our community, my best wishes to you for a successful and happy school year.
Ora et Labora.
Mr Cairns
