From the Head of School

 

Trips

My children are in their twenties now and their childhoods have become a source for reminisce.  Oddly, it is not things that they did all the time that get remembered.  Ask my eldest about her piano lessons, and she knows she had them, but not her teacher’s name or any other particular detail, even though she must have had a hundred of them.

It is one-offs they remember and talk about - an international day or a triathlon, a model united nations trip, a football match against local rivals.  These moments crystalise so many of the moments that remain important to them in their adult lives - the challenges overcome, the relationships formed.

Of course, if life were just such events it wouldn’t become more rich and meaningful; it would be stressful and chaotic.  We need routines to give a sense of security, from which we can explore the world.  They aren’t memorable because they are ordinary.

However, having established our routines, ISA has started to take a break from the ordinary.  This week Grade 5 have been on an outdoor adventure, which you can read about in Don Newbury’s article this week.  On Monday Middle School Activities Week begins, later in the month it will be the turn of the High Schoolers.  Football and volleyball matches have resumed.  A Model United Nations event is being planned for next month. 

Doing things out of the ordinary is always a risk; something we are especially aware of, having lived through eighteen months of special measures to protect us against a pandemic.  But in all that we do, there is also a balance to be struck.  

In this week’s counsellor’s corner, Valerie DeGraw outlines many of the benefits of trips, articulating clearly what every parent knows generally.

Life isn’t back to what it was this time two years ago; we still need to take precautions, our risk assessments have added detail.  But nevertheless there are still opportunities: from Nethybridge to Dunnotor,  from Aberdeen jazz festivals to Edinburgh art galleries, curling to snow centres and from science centres to hydrogen power plants.  Opportunities to make memories.