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The best things about springtime in school

I have probably been a bit premature with the title of this post, as we are only at the end of February. The worst day of weather we had here last year was during April, when the highest tide of the year corresponded with the strongest winds for several years, creating what was referred to as a once-in-a-generation storm. I live on the sea front in a little coastal town, and I remember going out for a walk in it and being worried about being washed away by the tide as it rolled over the sea defences.

Still, the sun is shining, and I am sitting at my desk, reminiscing about what spring meant to me as a teacher and headteacher, so let's hope I am not jinxing things! Anyway, here are my top five signs of spring:

1. Getting home before it gets dark. This has a huge impact on mental health, perhaps even more than the next point. I appreciate that we are not quite there yet, assuming a return home of around 6 p.m., but we are getting there! Something about feeling that the day was not yet done made the evening seem more recuperative than when you got home in the dark, when you felt like you might as well go straight to bed!

2. When you get up, it does not feel like the middle of the night. See point 1. I imagined that when I finished working in school, I would suddenly turn into the sort of person who went for a walk to pick up a newspaper before breakfast, but it turns out I am not. Still, something about getting up in the dark felt wrong when I was working. I tried a daylight lamp to help me wake up one year, but that somehow made it worse!

3. Outdoor P.E. lessons. There are only so many dance/movement sessions you can keep your enthusiasm up for as a class teacher.  It did not help that when I was in secondary school, I absolutely despised gymnastics, although that was in the eighties, when things were much scarier. You can't beat taking the children out for a run around on grass. The (hopefully) decreasing frequency of wet playtimes helps, too.

4. Nature coming back to life. As my previous post ('Bring Back the Nature Table') described, I was a huge fan of bringing the outside into the classroom. Whether it was daffodil bulbs, frogspawn, or even ducklings one time, all were welcome in my class!

5. The cricket season is coming. The off-season is a very long time for a cricket fan like me. To put it into context, the last live cricket I watched would have been in September last year, so we are now past the six-month mark. As well as being a lifelong fan of the game, sitting in the members stand at Somerset CCC was, and still is, my happy place. As a headteacher and teacher, you definitely need one of those to visit regularly! Although watching my team is still extremely important to me, my relationship with the ground has changed a little now that I no longer work in a school.

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