This year, we are having to celebrate Christmas in a slightly different way, but are still keeping the traditions of the season and look forward with excitement to the coming weeks! I hope you have had the chance to peruse the HighPost letter I sent out yesterday, with details of our festive calendar. I wish you a restful, extended weekend. The exeat gives everyone the opportunity to recharge batteries ready for the final weeks of the term.
This year we are having to celebrate Christmas in a slightly different way, but are still keeping the traditions of the season and look forward with excitement to the coming weeks! I hope you have had the chance to peruse the HighPost letter Mr Harper sent out yesterday, with details of our festive calendar. I wish you a restful, extended weekend. The exeat gives everyone the opportunity to recharge batteries ready for the final weeks of the term.
We have been very fortunate this term that we have been able to maintain a very high attendance rate. For those pupils who have had to self-isolate, online learning via live lessons throughout the school using MS Teams has been a real success, with very positive feedback from parents: “I wanted to thank you for how well remote learning has gone this week. Our daughter has genuinely felt involved in all of the lessons and as a working parent it really has worked well.” “I often hear the kids laughing and really enjoying their learning as I’m working - it brings a smile to my face every time.” “I think the school has coped exceptionally well providing online schooling and support during this time. Thank you.”
In my Primary assembly this week I talked about our gift of giving kindness and friendship and how important this is, particularly at this time of year. We listened to the Bruno Mars song, Count on Me and I asked the children to consider the lyrics: If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea I'll sail the world to find you If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see I'll be the light to guide you We'll find out what we're made of When we are called to help our friends in need Acts of kindness, large and small, can multiply and positively impact the world we live in. I asked the children to think about kind acts others had shown them and talked about how they could show kindness to others.
Despite not being able to all get together in person, we have had two very important events this week. The first was our Remembrance Service, where the whole school came together for a virtual service, led by Chaplain Jo. Even with the national restrictions, we could never let this important date pass without properly marking it. Thank you to all students involved in the reading, prayers and music.
In assembly this week we talked about geese, and in particular what lessons we can learn from them. In certain situations they are seen as pests, however they are intriguing creatures who have an incredibly strong sense of family and group loyalty. We watched a video of a large flock of geese heading off on their long journey home.
Today I attempted something new! A live event assembly on MS Teams for all of the Senior School. I shared my fear of great white sharks. This fear started when I was younger. My brothers and I were gifted a book which detailed every sort of shark attack across the various oceans. Unfortunately, this fear meant that much later in life, on a perfect evening at Hopeman beach in the North of Scotland, (where I was living at the time), I couldn’t enjoy going out for a swim. I was delighted when I could hear everyone agreeing with my concerns. Even though there aren’t great white sharks usually swimming in the Moray Firth, there might just be one who has taken a little holiday trip up to Hopeman!
In my Primary assembly yesterday we reflected on the power of laughter. Some of our teachers shared their funniest jokes with everyone. Some jokes made us laugh and others made us groan! But they all brought us together (albeit virtually), which is so important, particularly at this time. I likened laughter to social glue, in that it strengthens relationships and brings us in sync with each other because we are sharing something. When asked how this laughter made the children feel, they said happy and excited. Sadly laughter can also be used in a less positive way, when someone is being laughed at or fun is being poked at someone. I asked the children to think about how you feel if you are being laughed at and how different that feeling is when we are sharing laughter and smiling together.
