They say a change is as good as a rest, I suppose. I write this surrounded by mess and the chaos of crates, boxes, artificial flowers (and I suddenly realise I do actually have an awful lot of these).
When you spend long hours at your place of your work, I am a firm believer that you have to enjoy your surroundings. In my opinion, you have to be able to have an element of ‘home from home’ so that in those moments where you need to pause and catch your breath, you can do so more easily where there is a feeling of warmth and homeliness. And that’s just for me, let alone the children! I have convinced myself that the majority of the children, particularly 6P, welcome my slightly overboard homely feel so that when they come in in the morning, they also feel that they are somewhere their stress and tension can ease just a little and they can also enjoy their surroundings.
In reality of course, I conclude as I packed up my nik-naks and abundance of “stuff” at the end of the half term, that it is just an extension of my house. I could have easily opened up a second-hand book shop with my vast array of crime novels that I couldn’t fit in my bookshelves at home (now making the staff room somewhat homely too!), I have more artificial flowers than Hobbycraft (or at least nearly it seems) and I have batiks on the walls that come from my GAP year in Uganda (crikey – 22 years old!) to a “Mama and Papas” picture from when my first born was born!
In my eyes, I had my Reynolds room looking lovely and I must admit, when broached with the idea of having to move rooms, even though I understood the reasoning, I was suddenly feeling very anxious and what my new room would be like. “I would need one with lots of space as I am head of two departments”, I requested to the powers-that-be. Although true, in reality, it was to accommodate my second home… could I make a new classroom feel homely enough?! Could it fit everything? I’m not a hoarder really – goodness me, I seem endlessly to give old toys from my children to charity, much to their dismay. But having reached my 15th crate, I’m beginning to think I must be a liar…
But, as the optimist I try to be, they say a change is a good as a rest. And perhaps I can make my new room EVEN BETTER! So that is the challenge I have set myself. I am excited. I always fancied myself as a bit of a Laurence Llewlyn Bowen – or maybe not quite as OTT – but with one day more of sorting ahead of me, I think I may have just won my bet.
I hope 6P and my classes think so too!
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