It’s so quiet with no students
It’s so quiet with no students
Sunday, 1 June 2008
There is a wonderful episode in the series “Yes Minister” where the Minister for Administrative Services, Jim Hacker, learns from his chauffeur that there is a new hospital in northern London that is staffed with 500 administrators and ancillary workers, but has no doctors, nurses or patients. Jim Hacker is informed that it is regarded as one of the best run hospitals in the country, and is being considered for an award as the nation’s most hygienic hospital. Not surprisingly, the Minister is outraged at the waste of resources in running a hospital that has no patients, but when he tries to take come action to reduce staffing, the workers respond by going on strike because they feel they are seriously over-worked.
To an extent, I felt like I was living on the fringes of this episode of ‘Yes Minister’ this week. All the students have gone home, the campus is quiet, and yet I and the other teachers have been frantically trying to catch up on work. Monday was a hectic day as the students departed, with all the hugging, weeping, laughing and farewells that are an inevitable part of saying ‘goodbye’. Tuesday morning was occupied with a staff meeting in which we tried to tie up the loose ends of the academic year that has just finished, and begin the planning for the next one. Tuesday afternoon was, however, a very pleasant interlude as all the teaching and non-teaching staff together shared a buffet afternoon tea at the Sheraton Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui to celebrate the end of a very successful year.
On Wednesday morning, I attended a long board meeting at which several very significant issues were discussed - including some decisions needed to give the final ‘go-ahead’ for the construction of our new auditorium, to be named after former Chairman, the Hon. Lee Quo Wei.
The rest of the week has been spent conducting end-of-year one-on-one meetings with teachers, signing hundreds of reports, writing letters to parents and National Committees, finalising and signing the letters of offer to students who will be offered places in LPCUWC this September - all the important administrative tasks that are largely hidden from public view, but which are nonetheless essential for the College to function. There may be no students here, but my working days have continued to extend into each evening, and I was working for most of yesterday (Saturday) also.
Part of the pressure has been self-inflicted, as I will be taking my summer break earlier than usual this year. My youngest son, Andrew, has just finished his IB Diploma exams, so before he starts working to earn some money before commencing at university, we will travel together for a few weeks in Africa. Unfortunately, Di’s bad back won’t allow her to accompany us, so she will spend most of the time when Andrew and I are travelling with family in Australia.
You will be able to access the daily travel diary directly from the front page of my website at https://stephencodrington.com, using the link in the lower left corner (as shown in the image to the right).
Sunset at the front roundabout of the College