Pocklington School Newsletter Summer 2020 | Page 7
Sports Roundup
Remote learning has been a challenging but
rewarding experience for Sports at Pocklington.
The Strength and Conditioning department has
continued to provide guidance in the form of
programmes and weekly workouts for both
senior and prep school children. The Core PE
programme has delivered a weekly balance of
both physical activity and technical and tactical
questions designed to help improve knowledge
in a wide range of sports. A huge thank you to
the pupils who have engaged with the tasks; as a
department, we have been excited to see the
broad range of activities that have been
undertaken. Particular credit should go to
Harriet Jacklin, Niamh Cowen, Poppy Levitt, Joe
Girking, James Sweeting and Spencer Moore
(First Year), Will Horsley, Joe Benson, Amy Colley
and Niamh Clements (Second Year), Tom
Benson, Ben Marson, Oliver Rook, Joe Clark,
Pippa Byron, Belle Yeomans and Kitty Webber
(Third Year), all of whom have produced a wide
range of high-quality work consistently during
the remote learning period.
Pupil Welfare and Wellbeing
The Pastoral and Wellbeing staff at school have
been working hard to find different ways to
support our students during these
unprecedented times. Our interactions with
them have relied heavily on the use of the
telephone, so pastoral staff have had special
training on how to get the most from
conversations by enhancing their listening and
questioning skills.
We have worked hard to maintain contact with
students via the use of virtual tutor groups and
online assemblies; the Headmaster and
Chaplain have also maintained contact with the
school community with their own video
What did you do in 2020?
messages. The Firefly Wellbeing page is
regularly updated with useful articles containing
great advice on how to best cope with this
strange way of living.
As lockdown is relaxing and we anticipate a
return to some sort of normality, we are ready to
continue to provide support for the new wave of
issues that will inevitably arise from that,
ensuring that staff are supported, too, to be able
to be of the very best service to our students.
We can’t wait to see you all again!
Clare Swann, Head of Pupil Welfare
Pocklington School
signs up to the BSA
Covid Safe Charter
We will be welcoming back our international
boarding students from the 22nd August. The
safety and wellbeing of our staff and students is
our foremost concern at this time. Therefore we
will ensure that our boarding facilities open with
full compliance to any UK Government Covid-19
guidance. In line with this approach we are very
pleased to sign up to the BSA
Covid Safe Charter which
outlines a common
framework of procedures
for the school to comply
with when our boarding
re-opens.
Prep School pupil Iris’ drawing
of Captain Tom Moore
If you meet an elderly person, sooner or later the
question will be asked, ‘what did you do in the
2WW? The answer might be ‘I fought, I joined
the home-guard or land army, helped in
manufacturing but most of all, I survived.’
In years to come we will be asked, ‘what did you
do in 2020, during the Coronavirus lockdown?’
We will all have our own story to tell that is
unique and individual to ourselves.
Pocklington School will no doubt be a part of the
account. The more meaningful we can make our
narrative, the healthier we will be.
We are right now formulating this story, by the
way we are resilient to the current situation. So
that one day we will be able to say, ‘I learned to
slow down, appreciate life more.’
I love an Alexi Murdoch song, in which he sings,
‘your whole life is here, no eleventh-hour
reprieve, so keep your head above water, but
don’t forget to breathe.’
Perhaps more than ever, we are learning spiritual
education at home. To breathe and slow down.
To hear the birds and enjoy the garden.
Spending time walking with the family or joining
the community when we clapped on Thursday
evenings at 8pm. Education is definitely going
on, as we all build our resilience; not to the virus,
but to the idea of living under threat, a hidden
one at that!
For myself, I’ve learned how to use Zoom, make
i-movie assemblies, sorted out my Will and
learned to sit with death and realise that if it
comes knocking on my door, it will be OK.
What have you learned during lockdown?
Dr Bill Merrington, School Chaplain
Dr Bill Merrington is a therapist and chartered
psychologist working in the York district
(www.bmerri.com or contact [email protected])
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