Invicta Vlogs
Mrs Derrick's Blog
I hope this Blog finds you all safe and well? It seems very strange returning to our ‘Virtual School’ after a two week Easter Holiday and two weeks of the School Closure, following the Covid – 19 Lockdown. As we enter, what is now our 3rd week of School Closure and 4th week of ‘national Lockdown’, we are naturally planning for a very different Summer Term – unlike any that we would have imagined, or indeed, will ever experience again!
We are 3 weeks into the choppy waters of delivering a curriculum at school and, 4 weeks since lockdown started and life, as we know it, stopped. Our home, school and social environments have all changed significantly. Jonathan Sacks said, “when the environment changes, people who are members of strong and diverse groups are at a huge advantage. They contain people with different strengths, variegated knowledge, diverse skills, and by working together they can negotiate their situation with effectiveness and speed. They are collectively resilient”.
I have found that across the board, we have had staff, students and parents who have all been creatively thinking of solutions to problems that 4 weeks ago we did not even consider. We have found new ways of teaching and leading from home, checking on students and innovative ways to keep our community feeling and operating like a community, despite our social distancing. It has been so uplifting to read your emails of triumph over adversity.
Perhaps we have discovered that with this ‘collective resilience’ we have coped much better than we could have ever imagined. We have been fuelled by a mixture of adrenalin, fear, determination and love for the students and staff we work with. We have re-focused our perspective: the things that we thought were so important just 4 weeks ago, have now become an irrelevance, for now, perhaps forever. We are beginning to emerge with a renewed purpose and focus on what the future might look like. Part of this, is reviewing what is important.
Our theme this week is Inventions, and it seems very pertinent at this point, to consider the ‘collective resilience’ and subsequent inventions that have been and will continue to be required as a result of Covid – 19: the Covid – 19 tests, the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and the very important vaccine which is so desperately needed!
I am pleased to say however, that although we are not in a position to ‘change the world’, we have collectively been able to contribute to the current situation locally – the provision of PPE by Mr Perry and Mr Taylor, examples of students using their creative skills to write and design messages and art work for the NHS Key Workers, students sharing their musical talent with local residents, along with so many instances of where students and staff have given up their time to cook, participate in sports activities, or just support their neighbours and loved ones with kind deeds. It has been really heart-warming and makes me so proud to lead a school with such proactive and vibrant individuals.
We know there is more yet to face with Covid - 19. It will take all of our courage and wit to navigate through this into calmer waters, but our continued ‘collective resilience’ and ‘innovation’ will make this possible. So, as we embark upon the Summer Term, we must have one eye on the ‘now’ and one eye on making the future a better place with further inventions.
This term, we will not only focus on the here and now, but we will re-build, re-focus, re-energise and re-establish what it means to live creatively, with resilience and change. What I do know is that Invicta Grammar School has shown in abundance that it can create a culture of kindness, compassion and creativity. We shall look forward to sharing these qualities with you over the next term.
In the meantime, please stay safe and well, whilst continuing to share our students’ wonderful achievements.
Mrs J Derrick
Headteacher
