Friday 12 February
Last day of half term today and we have reached the halfway point of the academic year. I don’t if I have ever known a tiredness like this. We’re all pretty exhausted.
The pupils that have been coming onsite have been great and I think will be best placed to cope with life after lockdown. Whenever and whatever that looks like. There’s no doubt, in my opinion, that remote learning is here to stay. Time will tell to what degree.
And although I know that young people need to gain their qualifications in the key skills of mathematics and literacy, there is more. This pandemic has certainly shown us how important it is to connect with our communities and with the outdoors. And to appreciate the smaller stuff more. It will take bravery for decision makers to pursue that as part of the curriculum offer post pandemic. We will see.
But the good news is that the R-number (the rate of infection) is below one. The lowest it’s been since July last year. In a year, many will have forgotten what some of this terminology meant.
As I drove to work today the sun was peering underneath the carpet of cloud which pretty much covered the sky. At the point at which it rises above the horizon, and before it slipped behind the cloud, it spilled an orange light out across the still white fields.
This made the ground glow like gold and lot up, in the same warmth, those trees and hedgerows that still had snow on them. Although I was driving and unable to stop and take a picture, I still felt privileged to have been there, at the right time, to witness it before the rest of the day got underway.
The Bald Birder 