Associate Principal, Operations Report
A year ago this week, the 2019 Year 9 China Experience group returned to Hamilton after another very successful and enjoyable trip. One of the students reminded me of this earlier this week when he said: “A year ago today we were in Beijing.” Thanks, Ted!
Haven’t things changed!
The coronavirus and associated travel bans have meant that the China Experience has not been able to occur this year. We are remote schooling, just as students and teachers at Gaoyou Middle School did for three months until very recently. Restrictions on movement within our local communities have meant more time at home for all of us.
Since the turn of the century, over 1,000 students, teachers and parents from this school have been to Gaoyou. Each group has returned with tales of excitement, adventure, awe and, most frequently, amazement at the hospitality received whilst in China. Each year group has been strengthened by the shared experience of spending a month together. Many staff have made good friendships with teachers at Gaoyou, several of whom have spent a term in Hamilton to further their experiences as teachers of English.
The personal connections made have been central to the way in which each traveller has recalled their China Experience.
Similarly, we are seeing greater personal connection in our own lives. Several parents have said how much they are enjoying the increase in family activities occurring at present. There are frequent comments made about how more people greet each other whilst out exercising (I think there are more of these comments than complaints about the sharing of bike and pedestrian paths!). There are stories of neighbours dropping produce off to others, in some cases introducing themselves first. Earlier this week, whilst overseeing the small group of students who cannot study at home, I passed a student who was online to his Mentor meeting. Two students remotely present noticed me in the background and sent me a wave and a greeting: thanks Harry and Lachlan!
Those personal connections are really important, I believe. They are also the essence of this school and its community.
Most of us are fortunate in that we are not hemmed into a small apartment, unable to get out for long periods. Most of us are finding ways to keep connected to other people. Many are looking to see what opportunities or initiatives our new ways of living offer us.
We have much to be grateful for, but personal connections, whether by Zoom or Teams, across a fence or through a window, remain treasures we should cherish and nourish.
Neil MacLean