It is time to say Good-Bye

I have been a bit absent this week and what a week it has been.  Glorious weather, lots of work and farewells.

The weather speaks for itself and it has been so hot at school that the sudden rise in temperature has been a bit difficult for the students to concentrate.  It is either all or nothing sometimes and a gradual increase in temp would have been better.... we are never satisfied but there you go.

On Friday my tutor group officially left school, although many will be in on  Monday for exams.

We had an excellent final assembly which over-ran by an hour but was allowed due to what was taking place.  I have taken part in numerous final assemblies but this one was very different and I am not sure if I can fully put my finger on why exactly.

My group have been brilliant and the past 5 years have whizzed by.  I have had so few problems, genuinely lovely students, supportive parents and a great atmosphere that there were times when I was expecting the bubble to burst.  I have had many lovely students in the 6 previous groups that I have been responsible for but not so collectively where all 28 have been a delight.  I would have been proud to have any one of them as a son or daughter and I hope that my own daughter, Sophie, turns out just as well.

I could take them anywhere, introduce them to anyone, leave them in charge of a task and be confident that they would not let themselves or me down.  In short the next group have got a bit of an act to follow!!

The picture above it a gift from a student and his Mum and is perfect for my white and red theme in my kitchen.

This gift is from another student and was given to me with a lovely big smile.

Thank you Kieran, I think I shall be looking for a lovely necklace to use this giftcard as a memento rather than a frying pan which I bought with a birthday giftcard!!

I shall really miss this group, they have great personalities and not the selfish attitude that their age group can sometimes display.  They have showed empathy and support for each other and I am sure that they guessed something was up last September when my Dad passed away even though nothing was ever actually said.

I had a further surprise when we received a certificate for maintaining the highest attendance over the past 5 years which was a surprise because we are a sharing group and when one gets a chest infection it is passed round!  One the other hand they do not stay at home just because they have a sniff either.

The staff then sang a song to the music of "New York New York" and we had changed words which matched the fact they were leaving and moving on. (Only knew about this lunch time the day before and our practice was not good at all).

At the end we were given a round of applause and a standing ovation!

It was all quite emotional and students always say they can not wait to leave but they looked far from willing.  My lesson started off my passing a box of tissues round and assessing mascara damage!  I had to let them calm down before I could get any work out of them and the added heat did not help either.

By the end of the week as we move into the half-term holiday I am sure that they will begin to feel differently and look forward to moving on to the next stage of their lives.

xx

PS
I can not believe that I forgot to say that all data, stats, merits, attendance etc was worked out over the 5 years my tutor group came out on top and I was given a Best Tutor Group certificate as well.  As you can imagine I have laminated it as I doubt that I will get another one of those!
I am a bit chuffed too.
xx