Dear Crew
I’ve just read the blog I posted this time last year, on the last day of Y8. Look how happy we were!
I remember our last Y8 Crew Session well, not just because we had cake, but because even though you were were all excited for the holidays, you were also looking forward to starting your Y9 journey.
- You knew it would be an important year.
- You were nervous about having to do your Passage presentations.
- You were looking forward to starting your GSCE Choice studies.
- You were excited about achieving your DofE Bronze Award.
And then this happened:
Overnight, we had to adjust to a new socially-distanced, locked-down, scary world… We took lessons and Crew online and we had to get used to our new normal:
This change, on top of being told that we couldn’t see family and friends, hasn’t been the easiest thing to cope with and I absolutely get why some of you have struggled with our Strange New World.
I want to thank those of you who have turned up for every Crew hangout, for keeping up with your work and for helping me feel that things were (kind of) normal at least once a week!
If you haven’t shown up for Crew – don’t worry; we understand. We’re right here waiting for you and your place in our Crew circle is safe.
If you’re behind on your work, be prepared for some hard work catching up, but remember that our whole Crew will be supporting you. As ever, we’ve got your back.
A massive appreciation to those of you who have had the courage to reach out and say that you’ve been struggling to cope. You are all braver than you think.
Our end of year photo looks a little bit different this year, doesn’t it?
I visited some of you yesterday and I can’t tell you how happy I was to see you! I didn’t realise how much I’d missed you until I saw your smiling faces.
An extra special thanks from me to you – Thomas, Noah, Tom and Ali – for “just” getting on with it (that’s harder than you think during these times!); for your continued hard work; for your kindness; for your humour (even when you didn’t realise you were being funny!) and, above all – for the compassion you’ve unknowingly shown over the past 4 months just by rocking up and being there with me every Thursday at 2pm… You really are Crew Superstars.
Y9 wasn’t what we expected it to be but we’ve managed to get up to the top of our Y9 mountain. The journey was a a bit slower and sometimes lonelier than our Y7 and Y8 journeys, but we made it all the same! The Y10 mountain will be the biggest and hardest one to climb yet but #wearecrew and I’m ready to race you to the top 😉
Now – go off and enjoy the Summer break. I’ll see you all back in Crew at the end of August, back in school, getting used to another new normal.
And now I’m checked out.
Stay Safe,
Mrs Parker xx