Principal's Post

Dear Parents,

At the time of writing this week’s newsletter contribution we are one and half days into our Remote Learning Programme. It would be very dangerous to say all appears to be going well and I am certainly not inviting a response or an argument. I would like to thank the staff for the amazing amount of work that has been done behind the scenes to deliver the Curriculum in this way. I would like to also acknowledge the students for their acceptance and understanding as they navigate our new world of learning.

A special acknowledgement and thank you to the parents for their response. We are very conscious that the dynamics in the different households will vary. Some parents are already working from home and others sadly have had their employment opportunities reduced or curtailed. I can anticipate the tension that will be in many homes by reflecting on how our family would have coped with our sons studying remotely during their teenage years. A gaze across the room, “Shouldn’t you be in your room studying” could generate a response, “Don’t you trust me?”; “Everything is under control”; “I finished everything and the teacher didn’t leave enough work”; “That’s not the way it is done, the teacher told me to do it differently”. That comment really hurt because it most likely related to Maths questions and having taught the subject for more than thirty years I probably felt I had something to offer.

There is something about teaching, coaching or monitoring your own. As a teacher you can be rational, patient and objective with someone else’s child. When it is your own the emotional barometer checks out. Watching another lad miss a goal or fail to chase down an opponent at football feels completely different. A young man may quote a coach or teacher acknowledging their wisdom and authority leaving a parent thinking, “I have been telling him that for years”.

On one occasion when a student made a particularly poor decision I left the interview room with the parent to console her. She said, “I don’t know how you can be so calm about this”. I replied. “He is not my son”.

I guess my point is I don’t have an answer. All I can say is you have our respect and empathy for what is about to happen.

It may not be the best advice but I would like to finish with a quote from the recently deceased Kenny Rogers.

“You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em

Know when to fold ‘em

Know when to walk away

And know when to run”

Good luck and if they don’t understand something on one day they may get it the next day, or the next.

Keep safe.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Tony Coghlan

Principal