Update as of the 10th July

Dear all,

Had an email about optimism this week which I thought might cheer us all up on this breezy Monday.

OPTIMISM!
Optimism right now may be a struggle. It always is when we are suffering from fatigue… Someone once said ‘Sometimes when you are in a dark place you may think you have been buried but you have actually been planted’.
I think we all know what ‘being buried’ has felt like at some points during lockdown and it may have felt more like being buried at times rather than things being planted. However, the message made me reflect on what things may have been planted, even during these difficult times. I think some of the fruit which I have seen planted over the last 3 months at Eckington School are:
• Committed and passionate parents and members of Eckington School staff.
• Moral purpose by everyone, in buckets.
• A real, genuine love by all of Eckington School and its community.
• Uniting of SLT and all staff.
• A coming together of all parents, students, staff, teaching and support staff. We have been very much in this together!
• A chance to do things differently.
• A shared inner strength of us all and united determination to do our best for our children and students.
• An ability to navigate chaos and difficulty.
• Resilience that none of us thought we had.
• Improving relationships between staff, parents and students.

These are things that should cheer us all up and give us optimism!!
As a school, and perhaps, as individual people, we came into this crisis in one form and perhaps we will emerge in another. It has been hard and it has been unknown. At times it has been dark and messy. Remember together we have all done a brilliant job. I cannot thank you all enough for what you have done and for the remarkable levels of determination and resilience you continue to show.

Take care of yourself.

Remember to always put on your oxygen mask first! You must look after yourself first and foremost.
You matter!
Best wishes
A. Burgess