Christmas and Schools

Hi Everyone… even though everyone’s so busy I’m still being invited to work in schools every day.  Only recently they are much quieter as poor old schools are being decimated by a handful of triumphant viruses.  Everyone’s ill or getting ill or recovering and coming back in too soon!!  And yet… and yet… the spirit of Christmas still casts it’s gentle glow… because staff and schools are basically wonderful people and want what’s best for children.  There are so many children tucked away in classrooms who we know will not, at Christmas, be seeing a tree, decorations, sparkly lights… or more importantly feeling safety, love or a sense of peace and awe and wonder.  Just fear and tension.

So what they experience in school – the carols, camaraderie, feeling special, being bathed in light and appreciation from audiences is crucial for their future.  They need to know and feel a sense of Christmas to ever be able to replicate it or bring it into their own lives one day for their own families.  So KEEP ON KEEPING ON lovely grown-ups in schools, metaphorically link arms with all the other adults and pull each other up the steep Christmas hill until you can collapse into the illness you have been putting off and the hot brandy and many more things to do in your own home.  As you look along the line of your staff you will see that some of them are more on their knees than the others.  Some have really difficult home situations that we know nothing about… keep on pulling them up because basically being part of a team in school means that we can all have a turn on the knees and be pulled along.  We just can’t stay on our knees the whole term!!!  It’s not the job of the head or any senior manager to urge us on… it’s all our jobs… and we do it the best we can for the sake of all those children who so desperately need to have fun, to feel special and to feel they belong somewhere safe and loving.

Look at this incredible big tree outside the school that my local very special Walwayne Court Primary school has decorated so your heart lifts the minute you enter their school gates.  On Saturday night I actually had time to go out with my daughter Meg and sing carols – the simplicity of candles, kind voices, sharp air smelling of wood smoke and mulled wine I think is real happiness.

Website Editor’s Notes

1. Jenny Mosley delivers keynote speeches, seminars and workshops at conferences and training events including headteachers’ conferences. For further information about Jenny’s work and availability please phone 01225 767157, email circletime@jennymosley.co.uk or see our training section on the website.
2. For all enquiries about Closure Days and Working in School Days for positive behaviour, social and emotional skills development, staff well-being, circle time and lunchtimes and playtimes in mainstream, special schools and early years settings – click here.
3. Jenny Mosley’s training, consultancy and conferences are for teachers, teaching assistants, headteachers, midday supervisors and everyone who works with children in schools and settings.
4. Jenny Mosley’s Golden Model and training promotes positive behaviour for learning, positive lunchtimes and playtimes, SEAL, SMSC, PSHE and British Values.