I had made sure my new pencil case was ready, new school bag packed, shoes shiny and ready to go. Sharing the first day at ‘big’ school and experiencing it alongside our new year 7 students was for all of us exciting and nervous.
I went out to the school gate and met the families who shared that mixture of emotions while they watched their little ones walk into school for the first time. I promised them they would leave excited about coming back on Monday.
Your first day at school has to be magical. It has to set the tone of all that is going to come. Yesterday in our first assembly I explained how in day one we are not going to hand out new books and get you to write your name on the them, we are not going to bombard you with new timetables, in day one at Meols Cop our year 7 students would ‘change the world’.
Presented with a challenge of reviewing, planning and implementing a waste free lunch year 7 students left the hall buzzing with excitement. Today would set the tone for the next five years of their education, the challenge, the feeling of belonging and them indset to think big. Throughout the day students would also receive on the spot rewards for demonstrating our fundamental ASPIRE principles.
So, after 30 minutes of being in their new school our year 7 students set off with a determination, purpose and drive that we witnessed throughout the day. The first room I went into I was met with discussion about the impact of waste and students where undertaking a survey of the waste in their own lunchboxes. One student had already put the detail into a bar chart and was in discussion with some peers and staff as to why a pie chart may be a more powerful representation. One young man was asking me how and where the school recycles and do, we have an ‘Eco Council’? And this level of conversation continued throughout the day.
During break time the year 7 students where showing me the rewards they had already been presented with from showing outstanding ‘Professionalism’ when presenting an idea to ‘Self Awareness’ for supporting peers in some challenging tasks.
The day continued in this atmosphere and by the time the students returned to the hall there was a powerful air of achievement, excitement but importantly togetherness. We introduced our students to their first guest speaker of the year, Vicki from Om Nom, a zero-waste shop based here in Southport. Vicki gave students two powerful messages: 1) Small changes can have a huge impact 2) The commitment of one person can change the world but when a whole community think in a certain way just look what can happen.
The ASPIRE awards that students had received throughout the day where collected in, we needed two boxes we had that many. We then proceeded to pull out awards from the boxes and read out the amazing things students had been recognised for throughout the day.
They came out and chose one of the amazing products that Om Nom had supplied to us to support a Zero a Waste culture. Students who showed exceptional Self Awareness to others, a Professional outlook in all that they did, great Initiative in the ideas they had.
I went and stood with the families at the end of the day to see the students leaving school and they asked how have they been, are they ok? Soon the students came out of the school gates, excitedly telling stories of how they had changed the world, the new friends they had made and the how much they loved their form teachers.
“Thanks Sir, I can’t wait till Monday so we can keep changing the world”
If this is day one, imagine what we are going to do over the next five years.
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