SCHOOL’S OUT
No more school lunches. No more school reports, no more pick-ups or drop-offs. No more ‘Have you done your homework?’ or ‘Have you got your sports bag?’ In our family, we have had 23 years of children at school and now, in a way which feels strangely very sudden, it’s all done and dusted. Our son has finished secondary school with only the final exams to complete, and a last game of rugby – a deciding match to see if his team wins the season’s competition.
This year has been very odd, with a mix of homeschooling and stop-and-start classes. There will now be no more Zoom lessons echoing through the house, or awkward walk-ins as lots of animated faces on a screen look up as you appear in a room. We viewed the final school assembly on a laptop, and I felt very removed from what was going on in the hall, which we have been in for many prizegivings and meetings before. This year, it just didn’t feel the same.
In the end, it all just fizzled out, with applause as students walked out of the school hall, but not many smiles at all. It didn’t feel like the same school. In fact, although I dropped my son off for his final assembly, we didn’t actually see him on the video. So, sitting through speeches, and PowerPoint presentations from the art, music and sports departments, it felt like someone else’s final countdown. It was not what I had been expecting.
COVID has made sure any dreams of final celebrations were completely scratched from the calendar. As parents, we have had none of the final dinners or meetings at school that were planned. That feeling of completion has been taken away from us – the chance to say a final farewell in person to those teachers we have spoken to for many years, and the parents we’ve talked to on the sidelines at sports matches.
After my son’s final assembly, his friends all met at a beach and a round of limited social gatherings began. A text message was sent to my wife: ‘How would you feel if I got a mullet?’ Returning from a day of celebrating, a very different looking boy/man walked through the door, complete with a mullet, freshly cut by one of his friends. So, school has finished and it seems he is ready to enjoy a summer and life without the restrictions of school rules and constraints. Good on him.
Meanwhile, my wife and I feel rather sad and a bit lost. We are excited for him at the beginning of a new stage in his life, but for so many years we have been getting kids ready for school and been part of all the buzz that a school term brings. That’s now over. There are things we won’t miss, for sure, but as we watched that final assembly it actually hit me that our lives are going to be completely different.
That night, as he was celebrating with a new hairstyle, my wife and I drove out to get takeaway but as we were deciding on what we felt like eating, we realised all we really wanted was to be home in our pyjamas. Returning home, feeling a bit sorry for ourselves and wondering what’s next for us, we had leftovers for dinner and talked about our new life. There will be no more school lunches, no more school reports, no more pick-ups or drop-offs. No more ‘Have you done your homework?’ or ‘Have you got your sports bag?’ We will miss it.
“WE VIEWED THE FINAL SCHOOL ASSEMBLY ON A LAPTOP.”