The Secret Teacher: ‘Apprehension at returning to school is entirely normal’

A is for Apprehensive. Some degree of apprehension at returning to school is entirely normal. Best to acknowledge it, but not make too much of it. This applies to teachers, parents and students.

Books: Parents, please buy them. Students, please remember to bring them. And Teachers, please actually use the book you asked families to buy. Schoolbooks are incredibly expensive and there is little worse than seeing one go unused once purchased.

Classroom: Otherwise known as home away from home for the bulk of the year. It’s a shared space and one that we could perhaps make a greater effort to look after.

Diary: A school day essential for all students and teachers — those who genuinely want to keep on top of things, anyway.

They say ‘Dublin 1 is for the far-right’ and threaten to kill a politician, yet Ireland ignores the threat

---

Unregulated student digs: A home away from home or an isolating experience?

---

Rise in school absenteeism: ‘Some stay up too late on their phones until 3 or 4am’

---

Sarah Moss: As a bike-riding vegetarian feminist I can see why people might disagree with everything I think

---

Examinations: Thankfully the really important ones are a while away!

Friday: The Friday feeling returns, having dissipated in summer when the long, lazy days make it seem as though only Saturdays and Sundays exist.

The Friday feeling returns, having dissipated in summer when the long, lazy days make it seem as though only Saturdays and Sundays exist.

Gone: To a match, a play, an exhibition or heaven knows where. Once upon a time the only options were ‘anseo’ and ‘as láthair’. Today ‘Gone’ is a popular one. There are so many additional activities and reasons why someone might not be in.

Hungry: Some children regularly come to school hungry. They can be hard to spot as they may become good at hiding it. I always keep an eye out for them. It is surprisingly easy to be subtle about making sure anyone who needs a snack gets one.

Inclusion: To many this may seem like a buzzword, to others a fad, but it is essentially how we assure each young person that they have equal entitlement to their place in our schools, and access to all its benefits.

Justice: Kids want their own share, so they develop a keen eye for fairness at a very early age. Anyone who works with youngsters needs to be very aware of this and how quickly our observant young audiences cotton on to our ability to treat others fairly.

Knowledge: In the past, teachers were essential for this, laboriously lecturing students sitting passively in rows. Those days are gone. Today much of that knowledge is readily available elsewhere, so we are slowly evolving from primary active agents into facilitators.

Learning: All active agents commit to engaging in this all day, every day. Lifelong learning is a beautiful thing and opens up the world. The seeds are sown early at home and at school, and the soil they encounter there determines how they grow.

Motivation: Another essential and a game-changer for every student’s performance levels. Motivating a class helps everyone improve.

New: Spare a thought for new colleagues and students. Cast your mind back to when you were the new boy or girl and make a special effort to reach out to everyone who is new in your school. They will always remember you for it.

Organisation: School days are long and at both primary and secondary there are different subjects to consider. An ability to keep ahead and maintain order is vital and serves many of the other letters here well.

Punctuality: A sense of punctuality is the single greatest timesaver in a school day. Without latecomers less time is wasted on hearing excuses and/or reprimanding.

Questions: The secret weapon that the very best students know how to use. Optimal learning occurs when students wrestle with the questions offered and become deft at coming up with their own. The ‘Why?’, and ‘But how?’ that we use relentlessly while young can fade as we move from child to teenager. Could it be that we learn so much while young precisely because we do not filter our questions?

Rules: Readjusting from summer freedoms to school rules and routines can still take time. School are complex environments often with large populations of young people, and we all get off to a better start when co-operation is willingly offered.

Stress: We are not speaking openly enough about the dramatic rise in stress levels in schools. Young people are expected to be resilient and teachers to put up with it in exchange for the great holidays. Senior management are not unaffected and shoulder very heavy burdens. We need to talk honestly and openly about school stress, urgently.

Thinking: Critical thinking stands out as a vital skill at any age. Even if the final exams still rely heavily on rote learning, we as educators must nonetheless promote and encourage independent thinking.

Understood: How our students need to feel in order to get the most out of their schooldays. The students’ understanding of the material always comes second to our need to understand each individual’s unique learner profile and circumstances.

Value: If we are truly holistic in our approach to education, students will know that the value we place on them is not limited to their grades and academic performance.

Water: Yes, we are 70 per cent made of water and always being encouraged to drink it, but there is a downside in the need for toilet breaks. It’s hard to deny teenagers a basic human right, but it’s also hard if they take the p**s by drinking to excess and constantly disrupt class.

Xerox: The photocopying beasts behind our paper consumption. Kudos to all the schools already making a concerted effort to reduce paper.

Yard: A happy place, ideally, but also where many less welcome behaviours are exhibited.

Zonked: How we will all feel after the first week back. And yet we wouldn’t have it any other way. We have the privilege of attending school safely and benefiting from learning. This is something denied to many children, whether due to war, poverty or political regimes which suppress learning opportunities, for some or all their citizens. So, instead of complaining about being back, let’s be grateful for all that we have and embrace whatever this new school year has in store.