A new beginning

Its a new year, a new term tomorrow, a new job for me, a new start.....

The relaxed freedom of the summer holiday is over and everything signals the change that that brings about..... early starts, alarm clocks, uniforms all neatly labelled, lessons, bells, clubs, activities, then before we know it it will be harvest festivals, school productions and Christmas ~ all mapped out.

However, the structure this brings is reassuring ~ their anxieties about leaving the holiday behind and starting a new year with new teachers are balanced with the knowledge that a large part of what lies ahead is familiar.

I'm thankful for this, they know where they are, what the boundaries are, and from this place of security they can explore and stretch those boundaries.

I love the idea that they are free, that we are free, holidays let us truly let our hair down and run wild if we want, do things we wouldn't normally get to do and some of those boundaries get well and truly stretched in the process. Yet a return to what is stable and secure, is grounding and reassuring.

It's not that the party's over, it's a new one beginning, a new cycle.

It feels more like New Year to me than New Year itself - I've never really embraced the whole New Year thing, but September is always filled with new starts, a new resolve, often several, so although a part of me wishes the Summer holidays could carry on for ever and ever ~ running wild and free ~ the start of new possibilities is ahead, which creates both nervousness and excitement at the same time.

We just need to get started