I recently spoke to Upper Years in assembly as part of Children’s Mental Health Week. I was telling them that I felt fortunate to be speaking to them at that particular time as I wanted to talk to them about hope – and it was beginning to look like some of the things we’d all been hoping for might actually come true. The Covid figures were beginning to turn a corner, the vaccine rollout was continuing apace and it was starting to look like we might all get back to school before Easter.
Hope, always important, has become central for many of us this year. I shared with Upper Years an article I had read recently. In it the author, Nina Stibbe, described how her attitude towards the concept of hope had changed.
She hadn’t always been what you might call a hopeful person. She almost felt that to be hopeful was to tempt disappointment. This all changed when her sister was in the running for a potentially life-changing opportunity. She became increasingly concerned about her sister’s high hopes and plans for the future as she was worried about the potential disappointment ahead. She put this to her sister, who replied that even if the plans came to nothing she would have enjoyed the hoping. Nina Stibbe writes that at this point, “I learnt that day to allow myself to hope, and I have hoped for good and great things ever since. Some have happened and some haven’t, but the hope itself has been life-enhancing.”
Upper Years shared with me their hopes for this year, most of which involved seeing (and hugging!) relatives and returning to school.
There are currently many reasons to be hopeful, including the continued success of the vaccination rollout, the first signs of Spring and of course the full return of ECS.
When we return next week (something many of us have been fervently hoping for) as well as giving pupils the opportunity to reflect upon and share their experience we shall be encouraging them to enjoy being back at school, to look to the future and to remain hopeful.
Mrs Reddington
Deputy Head (Pupils)
