Something Worth Celebrating

The transition between terms can be a cause for celebration – but, as Emma Gray writes, it can also lead to a whole pile of unexpected surprises landing on your desk!

Something Worth Celebrating

At last, we’re in the summer term. We come back into term five, feeling slightly sick from eating too many chocolate eggs, and aching from the Easter holiday tradition of planting potatoes (or maybe that’s just me), with loads to do. Budget planning, capital works scheduling, exams and school trips keep us busy, and before we know it, we are at the end of term six. Our long summer break, or term seven, is here at last.

But, before peace descends, we have the annual phenomenon of the staff desk clear out. I’ve looked for a name for it. ‘Desk Dumping’ seemed appropriate but this is, apparently, something else altogether. You’ll know what I mean though, in those last weeks of term you’ll have a knock on the door…

The Weird and Wonderful

“Can I just give you this?” As they place a Tupperware containing £30 in small change on the corner of your desk, muttering “I think that might have been a non-uniform day.”

“I’m so sorry, I found this at the back of my drawer.” As they present you with what looks like a Rolex watch they’d found in the PE changing rooms in January.

“I found this receipt and I don’t think I have been reimbursed.” Where they had clearly run amok in the museum bookshop during April’s school trip.

All real-life experiences of mine, and I’m sure you’ll have similar stories to tell. The steady stream of colleagues who come to you with the contents of mysterious bags and containers which haven’t been opened since the clocks went back. When I first experienced this, I found it slightly annoying, but I came to learn that what my colleagues were really saying is “Please can you help me?” and “I trust you with this.”

Life Happens

The work off-loading or dumping (call it what you will) we all experience at the end of term six isn’t about last-minute panic or forgotten paperwork. It’s about school life. Teachers and support colleagues alike juggling lessons, pastoral care, trip leadership, resources planning, activity collection, lost property…and unexpected moments which just can’t be planned for. And sitting in the middle of it all is YOU, the School Business Leader. Calmly receiving anything they find in the back of a drawer or dusty cupboard, which they know they should do something with.

Being Proactive

There is a quiet skill in what happens next. Processing receipts, cash and lost property into budgets and systems which still function even when the inputs arrive…umm…creatively. It’s where your experience as an SBL really shows, and where your judgement and understanding of school life makes you the incredibly valuable colleague you are.

What this end-of-term activity shows is that our schools are organisations with a positive approach.

• Colleagues who care enough to bring things forward (even if it is horribly late)
• A culture where people feel able to ask for help, rather than hide mistakes
• A central role, the SBL, who everyone trusts to hold the operational picture together

Not every organisation has that, and not only is it worth holding on to, it’s also worth celebrating.

A Small Favour

Of course, if there is a way of improving that last minute rush out the door and into the summer break, let’s use it. A gentle email, a small nudge, can help spread the load over the final few weeks, rather than the final few days, of the school year.

But more importantly, as the summer term unfolds, with its trips, performances, celebrations, and those moments which remind us why schools are such special places, let’s enjoy it for all that it is. The laughter, the chaos, the pride, and that unique sense of ending and beginning all at once.

And if a few receipts do happen to find their way to your desk along the way, take it as a sign of a school that is busy, alive, and full of people doing their absolute best.

That, more than anything, is something worth celebrating.