The last week of term…
Where to start? Anyone who knows a teacher or has the misfortune to live with, or even worse be married to a teacher at this time of year deserves a medal! A lot of people think that Christmas in a primary school is all tinsel and trees and carol concerts and nativities and they aren’t wrong but it is also so much more. Alongside the Christmassy things, we also have assessments to complete, data to drop and why do we get those emails on the last day that have to be dealt with ‘urgently’?
Despite the stress, it is a nice time of year in school, if you are organised. Children hate chaos. They beg to be ‘off curriculum’ but experience has told me that this is when they become the most dysregulated and I hate to say it… unhappy. The solution is to make a curriculum out of non-curricular topics. So, timetabling is key. Write a list of everything that needs to be done. Then get out your weekly timetable (blank). Add in the non-negotiables (performances, assemblies, house competitions, discos etc) and then timetable card making, quizzes, visits to reception to visit buddies and not forgetting time to make tea light holders from the coffee jar lids that my mum collects during the year. Things will still go wrong but if you have some basic level of routine in place, disasters are less likely to occur.
The last week for me was really lovely. Children need as much care and nurture as any teacher can afford to give at this time of year. Any home is a stressful place in the lead up to Christmas and parents are no different to the rest of us (I am one so know this). Trying to juggle present buying, present wrapping, elves (on the shelves) wrecking your house on a daily basis, work dos, visiting family, attending concerts etc etc etc can leave parents on their last nerve and it rubs off on children. So school has to remain a place where they know what is going to happen and when.
All that said, I was as glad as anyone when we reached 3:20pm on Friday and I could hug my class goodbye for two weeks and go home to enjoy Christmas with my family.
