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]) 6