I’d like to share a couple of events from this week, which have served to remind me what crew is about.
Firstly, as part of the World Cup celebrations in school, we’re participating in an inter-crew World Cup tournament. We played our first matches on Wednesday: we won one, drew one and lost one! We’re lucky to have a few really good footballers in our crew (Mackenzie, Bryn and Aden were outstanding!), whilst others aren’t as skilled and some would’ve preferred to sit out. However, everyone mucked in and played to the best of their ability. There weren’t any arguments about substitutions (so everyone got a go on the pitch) and nobody complained about our sometimes weak defence or missed goal opportunities (well, nobody except for me who went into full Alex Ferguson mode!!) Sorry – no pictures of the players; I was too busy shouting from the sidelines!
The second event goes to show how the concept of crew extends beyond our own little group – our feeling of crew responsibility and what it stands for extends to our whole school. So, I’d like to take the opportunity to publicly appreciate Nicole and her mum.
Nicole has a had a tough couple of weeks and myself, Mr Portman and her parents have done our best to support her. We’ve had some difficult conversations, and Nicole has had to spend some time in Reflection. I’m telling you this because it makes what happens next even more impressive…
We had our “That’s Sick!” Presentation of Learning on Wednesday. I can’t stress enough the importance of these events – they are a culmination of our students’ hard work, and a chance for them to share their knowledge with an authentic audience. It is important that the students – and parents! – participate in these events.
Unfortunately, Nicole had an appointment in Rotherham at 3.45pm on Wednesday and, with the POL due to start at 4.30pm, we had resigned ourselves to the fact that Nicole wouldn’t be there. Disappointing, but unavoidable. However, imagine my delight when during the second part of the evening, I turned around to see Nicole sat at her desk answering another parent’s questions about the expedition!
So, why did I tell you about Nicole’s time in Reflection? Because I truly believe that any other child in another school would not have shown the dedication, support and commitment to their school after being in trouble. She didn’t have to come back, and we didn’t expect her back, but her mum drove her all the way back from Rotherham for the last 30 minutes. All because Nicole didn’t want to let us down!
Now that’s Crew 🙂