Endings

Because most of my sessions run through an academic year, rather than a horticultural year, we are starting to work towards endings now as there are only a few weeks left of term. It has transformed in a couple of sessions into a theme of 'loss'.

A hole being dug for planting became a grave of an unknown man dug by a year 5 pupil. "I don't know who he is, but I need to bury him."

He gave him a headstone and looked solemn at the graveside before walking away "...to start something new."

For two slightly younger pupils we had a full ceremony when they lost some of their beloved crops due to the very hot weather.There were holy words, singing and even some weeping, expressing their loss in the best way they knew how.

I always feel a sense of loss too at this time of year, that the time I get to spend with these fantastic children  is coming to an end. This year that sense of loss is heightened by my leaving my current post, at present without any definite plans.

What I have to trust, both for my pupils and this year for myself, is that...

"If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow."
Rachel Carson.