This week saw a partial return to the TIGS campus for almost every member of the Senior School community. From Monday, teachers and students alike have been returning to the campus as each day we have welcomed back a different year group.
Over the last two months our school community have been through an experience that is utterly unique in the history of the School. The experience of online learning, often sharing internet and even laptops with siblings and parents who are also learning and working in the same space, will no doubt have presented some challenges! But I have been greatly impressed by the way so many students have risen to the challenges they have been presented with.
It has been a joy throughout this week, to speak with students from across the school and I must say how impressed I have been that so many, not only stepped up to meet the challenges at hand, but exceeded our expectations in so many ways. In doing so, these students will have developed as independent learners, they will have learned important skills of organisation and time management, and perhaps the most profound lesson of all – and one many have reported back to me in various ways – they have learned the real value of their time at school and the rich learning-community they are a part of: the relationships with their teachers, the opportunities that school presents them with, and most of all their active participation in a year group, a mentor group, and the numerous friendship groups that students enjoy each and every day here at TIGS.
But we must not allow ourselves to become complacent – COVID-19 is not yet beaten. At this point, its effects and transmission here in NSW have been mercifully slight compared to many other countries, but it is quite possible that we could yet see an increase in cases in the future that would require us to quickly manage a return to Online Learning. We must remain vigilant and prepared. Our students have proved they are more than capable of making the transition and the skills they have learned in recent months will continue to serve them well, whatever twists and turns may yet lie before us.
It has been such a pleasure this week to see students enjoying their lessons, seeing them reconnecting with their teachers and catching up with friends that they may not have seen in several weeks. As we gather as a full TIGS community in the weeks to come, we’re not going to expect any less of our students. We’re going to continue to provide them with plenty of challenge, we’re going to continue to have high expectations of them in all areas and we will continue to support them every step of the way.
