It is always with a mixture of great pride and sadness to see cohorts ‘move on’, and more so this year than ever. In previous years as May half-term approaches Gordano would be bidding a fond farewell to some Year 11 and Year 13 students with colourful assemblies and fitting celebrations.
Just over a year has passed since we first felt the impact of this life-changing pandemic. In some ways it feels like a lifetime – was there a really a time when we didn’t know about Zoom, Teams, social distancing, and could go about our daily lives entirely unrestricted? In others, it seems to have passed in a flash – I still remember the production of the Addams Family like it was yesterday, so too the assemblies we hurriedly put together to say a premature farewell to last year’s Year 11 and 13s.
As we approach February half term and the opportunity for a well earned break for many, I’d really like to re-iterate how impressed I am with our students and staff for the perseverance and engagement that they have shown this term.
As we approach the end of this unique (and, in many ways, surreal) year my overriding feeling is of great pride. Pride in the community for all of your support throughout some very challenging times; pride in all of our staff who have placed themselves selflessly at the forefront of the national response of the pandemic at considerable personal risk, and pride in our wonderful students who, at a time in life where they should be enjoying the journey of discovery and growing independence, have responded so maturely and responsibly given the huge limitations placed upon their lives.
As we come to the end of the strangest and, in many ways, most challenging school year that most of us have experienced, it is easy to make the mistake of getting lost in the trees, and not stepping back to recognise all that has been achieved in these few unique months.
