Column – Saying goodbye to school, after an eventful school year

The end of an eventful school year because that’s what it ended up being. As wonderful as this year was going to be, it has turned out differently. And in this year our oldest son said goodbye to school and is going to secondary school.

He still had a bit of a farewell feeling?

An eventful year

This year would be fantastic, we had the European Football Championship, the Olympic Games, Formula 1 in the Netherlands, the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. We would go to America on vacation and our eldest son would say goodbye to school. On January 1, 2020 we said to each other ‘this will be a great year’.

Until the news came, the news and the cancellations. The year suddenly looked very different!

The year is going to be very different

For so many children, this school year has turned out very differently than expected beforehand, no final exams, no gala parties, far fewer tests, no Cito (final) tests and taking classes online. But also getting lessons from your parents, working a lot more on a laptop and having to miss your friends.

The class of 2019-2020

What is this class now called? The class that said goodbye in the 2019-2020 Corona year, did take final exams or maybe not? The class that had no final party, no gala, no graduation ceremony that the whole school dwells on.

What is it like for these students?

What is it like to study now, but still not have your paper because you have virtual class and cannot make that last internship or assignment?

Things I don’t think about

Because I am of course with two boys in elementary school and totally immersed in this, I quickly forget that there are many other groups of children, pupils and students, who have also had to cancel their studies, plans are cancelled, financial problems may occur because they have lost their secondary jobs. How is he doing them? Did they manage a little?

Wondering how soon everything will be back on track

Continues to haunt us this year? We certainly won’t forget, but to what extent do people continue to suffer from it?? Psychologically, financially?

I am quite curious about this, but also a bit hesitant. Even as I think about the coming school year. After all, the children had far fewer lessons than usual.

How do they play into this in the new school year?

Still saying goodbye to school

That is of later concern, Now back to the time now! Our oldest son is in grade 8 and how different his last year in elementary school has been than he expected beforehand. No final exam, no camp and the musical had to be performed three times because only 30 parents could attend each time.

An alternative camp

Instead of three days on Texel, parents had arranged with the teachers that the children still had a little camp. They spent two days at the sailing school and one day at Poldersport. By having a school dance on Wednesday night until 11:30 p.m. and having to be in pajamas for breakfast at eight the next day, the kids really did have that camp feeling, even though they slept at home.

After the three days they were tired and finished! The school party theme was tropical and with a DJ, Photo Booth, tropical snacks and drinks it was a huge success.

Kudos to the parents and teachers for pulling this off.

The musical

The musical also went on. The roles were divided and first they practiced with the class at home via Google meet, at some point they could practice again in class. The performance was different.

Instead of performing twice – once for the school and once for the parents- it was now performed three times, only for a select club of parents. However, during the last performance there was a Live stream so that grandpa’s, grandma’s, brothers, sisters and others could also see the performance.

Introduction to the new school

Also the introduction to the new school went differently than usual, but fortunately it did go on. Surely it is nice to be able to see your new bridge class in advance and meet the teacher and your classmates. So all in all, he is saying goodbye to school in a nice and good way after all and can start preparing for a new school year in the bridge class.

And now

Now he has a vacation and can recover from all the hustle and bustle of the last few weeks. We’re going to buy school supplies, because we got a list of which items are indispensable at school. So that he can slowly work towards the year in the first grade.

The 2019-2020 school year has been weird and very different than expected, but fortunately he was still able to say goodbye to school and -free ‘normal’ again- start at a new school.