We’ve all heard the saying that there are two things in life that are inevitable – Death and Taxes. The way the welfare state is these days I believe that taxes are no longer ‘inevitable’ for many people. Personally I think that apart from Death, the one thing that truly is inevitable is Change. For me, being somewhat of a mercurial character, change is great! The same day-to-day repetitive type of existence does not suit me at all; I love variety and not necessarily knowing what each day will bring. I reckon that change makes for an interesting and exciting life.
With this in mind, let me tell you how fortunate Todd and I were last year observing the daily ‘changes’ in our students. – We watched them grow, develop and change continually, – it was incredible, – amazing!
This year, even before we began, there was a major change for us. Those who have been with the college since the beginning of last year will know that Stage 2 began in 2014 in building 30, that’s the building overlooking the field, we refer to as the ‘Village Green’. We began with 36 students; this number grew over the year and by term 4 we were over 50, we’d outgrown building 30. With numbers steadily growing right across the college, we needed more space. Our management team was able to negotiate a swap: building 30 for building 39, a considerably larger space. The original intention was that Stage 5 would move into building 39 for term 1 this year. To allow renovations to building 30, Stage 2 had to shift out at the beginning of term 4 and into building 27, which was to be our new classroom for 2015 onward, or so we thought. Yippee, a much bigger space for our students, an open learning space where we would not feel cramped – plenty of room to move, it seemed perfect for the age group. During the Christmas break however, after much consideration, it was decided that building 27 was more suited to our older students in Stage 5 and that Stage 2 would move into the new building, building 30. Another shift – another change.
The first time I toured our new classroom I was taken by the potential versatility of the space. We are now into our third week working in this building and I have to say it is an excellent classroom space. We have a good size Open Learning Space that can accommodate our 60 students well. In addition we have a ‘Media/Viewing Room’, a small room where up to 5 individual groups can work at a time, a library/conference/group-work room, and a small office. Apart from our teaching spaces, the building also houses all our football coaches and they are great neighbours.
You may well ask how our students have handled this change? As it is with children, most times their adjustment period is quite short, they simply get on with life. All of our Year 3 2014 students have returned and we can already see the fruits of the seeds we planted last year coming to fruition. We have a few newies in Year 4, and of course we have a whole new group with our Year 3s. It’s early days, our new students are slowing coming to terms with our untraditional ways of working. It is a process, change comes; it is inevitable!
Here’s to a productive ever changing and developing 2015 at IFS-ITS.
Kind Regards
Rodney
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