Show teachers how incredible they are
OPINION: This year my son started year 2 at the lovely little primary school around the corner.
His first year of school was very interruptedwith much of the second half of last year being a poor excuse for homeschooling, so this year we’re all hoping that Covid plays ball and lets him go to school much more frequently.
However, now that school is back, I’ve realised that teachers are actual real-life heroes.
What they’ve done over the past few weeks to get kids back at school (and restore parents’ sanity) has been remarkable.
We feel safe at drop-off. We know our son is having a blast with his friends (and is doing far more schoolwork than he’s done during the past six months). The communication between teachers (who we’ve never properly met in real life because we haven’t been allowed onto the school grounds yet) and parents has been awesome.
The effort that our school has made to restore a sense of normality to our community has been phenomenal, and I’ve been
challenged to reciprocate at least some of it. This year I’d really like to support our school in some way or another, but I’m very time-poor.
So I’m trying to think of ways I can support the school and the teachers in ways that don’t necessarily need me to be there.
Maybe it’s donating food to their free, before-school
breakfast programme. Any kid can turn up before the first class of the day and fill their tummies with cereal and toast, but of course that food needs to come from somewhere.
Perhaps it’s paying for some new sports equipment or library books, or offering to anonymously pay for another kid’s stationery for the year.
I could check inwith my son’s teacher to see if there’s anything she needs for her classroom to enhance the teaching experience.
Before I list anything on Neighbourly, I could see if the school could use it.
And if in doubt, maybe I can get morning tea delivered to the staffroom one Friday.
Of course, sometimes parent help is requested for sports days and the like, so while I don’t have a huge amount of time available to give, I will try to commit to a couple of days over the next year.
I’m sure there’ll be a bake sale or two somewhere along the way, too, so I’ll crank out my legendary banana bread (a recipe refined during lockdown of course) and chocolate chip cookies.
And any time there’s an opportunity to support the school financially, I’ll do my best to dig deep.
The past two years have proven that teachers are incredible humans.
This year, I feel challenged to do what I can to make sure they know it.