The highlight of my week this week was the Year 5 play, Elf: The Musical, pictured above. The children brought the sparkle of Christmas magic to the short days of January. The children sang beautifully, delivered their lines clearly and navigated a wonderfully ambitious staging arrangement. They should be very proud of their performance. I would also like to say thank you to Mrs Griffiths for her vision and all of the hard work that goes into staging a year group production. It was also heartwarming to be able to invite Year 5 parents into the hall to watch the play live. It has been two years since school performances have been performed in front of live audiences and it is my sincere hope that this term we will be able to return to live audiences at all school events.
Switching gears now from the arts to technology. Yesterday at school, we lost our internet connection for an entire afternoon and it was…wonderful. After the initial shock, of course. It made me think about technology use in general. At St Christopher’s technology is simply the new pencil case, it is a tool for teaching and learning. We monitor how technology is used in lessons and aim for the right balance. Technology also allows teachers to ‘show, not tell’ which is the ideal learning scenario; teachers present a puzzle and the children then solve it using their innate curiosity, rather than simply being told to write down or remember the solution.
Technology is a very useful tool. Nonetheless, I think we can all use a break from technology on a regular basis and the opportunities to read a book, tell a story, paint a picture, bake a cake, walk a dog, plant a seed, or even knit a jumper are all mindful and creative things adults and children can do when cast adrift from the internet, even for a few hours. I invite all St Christopher’s families to have an tech-free afternoon on a regular basis.
Ms E Lyle, Head