RISE OF SKYWALKER

During the Xmas holidays I found myself sitting with a chocolate nut icecream and a box of popcorn at the latest Star Wars movie … Rise of Skywalker. 

There were a number of irksome little things in the movie that annoyed this long term Star Wars fan, but on the whole I imagine that for a newbie going along to their first encounter that they would’ve walked away with the same feeling that I walked away with back in 1977 when the very first Star Wars movie came out. I was only ten at the time, but boy was I impressed!

As I walked from the movie theatre, blissfully unaware of the melted chocolate smudged all over the rear of my jeans, I couldn’t help but build an analogy in my mind about the Rise of Skywalker and the start of a new school year. In the movie, against all odds, the rebels rise up; never giving up hope; full of energy and resolve; to take on the might of the empire and win against all the odds.

I reckon that our new year in principalship is very much the same. We come back refreshed, bubbling with energy, and an uncanny positive belief that any of the old crap from last year can be resolved, and that we can all move on in collective happiness! Rise of Skywalker indeed!

Yes, it’s probably a bit of a misguided view. But, hell, why not! What’s the alternative? A cynical look at the start of the year as more gloom, doom, festering relationships and false starts, with the darkness of the “empire” hovering in the background? No, there’s no power in that at all. If you head into the new year like that, then you might as well admit defeat and not come back at all.

Instead we should bask in the knowledge that our budgets are full once again, that everyone has had a significant amount of time away, (possibly enough to quell any simmering resentments), that there are new relationships to forge with the excitement of new ideas and opportunities. And in the middle of all this is you, the principal … the Skywalker of your school, who can stand up with Ralph Waldo Emerson whispering in your ear; 

“Finish each year and be done with it.

You have done what you could.

Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in:

Forget them as soon as you can.

This year is a new year; begin it well and serenely 

and with too high a spirit to be

encumbered with your old nonsense…”

So arise Skywalker! Onwards and upwards. All the best, everyone for a positive and enjoyable start to the new school year.

Steve