3 minute read
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE
It is no secret that “ I am a fanatic Liverpool Football Club fan. Step into my office and you are immediately immersed and surrounded by red banners, flags and my prized autographed sketch of Kenny Dalglish – Liverpool Club legend.
If you are a sporting buff you will also know that Liverpool has just won the English Premier league for the first time in 30 years, following on from their domination last year raising the European Championship trophy. When Jurgen Klopp took over as manager in October 2015, Liverpool was a mediocre mid-table team who had just been defeated six to one by (to be relegated) Stoke City. This is equivalent to a 100-point thrashing by a bottom AFL team. So how did Jurgen turn it around? What lessons can we as a School learn from this success when we are faced with one of the most challenging periods in the School’s long history? Confident. Simplicity. Energy. Relationships. Lead by example.
– JURGEN KLOPP
With the impact of COVID-19 in 2020, technology and those of us who lead it, manage it and use it were suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Everything, and I mean everything suddenly had to be delivered through digital mediums across the vastness of the Internet to reach everyone learning and working from home. And as such, IT departments were expected to know it all. Reflecting upon the year so far, I am the first to admit I didn’t have all the answers.
I knew I had to do more than just support learning from home. I wanted to be better than the rest. Prove that we are more technically advanced than other schools. Every School was boasting about their success of zooming classes but for me
that was just the tip of the iceberg. Surrounding myself with key people enabled more online events, streaming conferences and webinars, musical and sporting performances, remote assemblies, staff meetings, open mornings, tours and the list goes on. The fact that we already had a highly developed online learning management platform and teachers armed with the digital skills to use it had St Catherine’s prepared better than most. Jurgen Klopp did not settle for good performances. He demanded the best in people every time they trained, practised and played. Everyone at the club from the shoe strapper to Mo Salah was important to the success of the team. In much the same way, Harj in our support desk, is as integral to our School as the teachers, the administration and café staff, and the Principal. All very significant cogs in a complex set of gears and pulleys that keeps the wheel of our School turning – steadily, readily and reliably. We all do our part at St Catherine’s to be successful and it is evident day-to-day in what we do for each other. We do it for little Bella in the ELC, to keep the smile on Vita’s face in Year 3 and to enable happiness and enrichment for every girl in the School. COVID-19 has thrown us an unexpected challenge and no matter how difficult it was at times, remember that now timeless tune by Gerry and the Pacemakers: “At the end of a storm there’s a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark.” Walk on with hope in your hearts.
Just with Jurgen Klopp and his team at Liverpool, no one walks alone at St Catherine’s.
