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When our students are older, they will look back at their school days with great fondness upon many things. There will be things that they will look back upon with displeasure. There may even be a few regrets. But however magnificent their school career, everyone will have experienced peaks and troughs, much of which will be learning curves that will hopefully help them to develop their confidence and resilience as they journey through life.

One of the finest elements of any school is that of being a community. Our community will mostly get things right. We will be in positions to celebrate triumphs and recognise success, all within the atmosphere of a family that looks out for one another. Sometimes, we will not get things right, and it is in these moments that we learn the most. Earlier this year, I wrote about success in life being measured not by how high you fly, but by how well you bounce back. Moreover, bouncing is about how you learn from instances of upset and disappointment, propelling yourself back to where you belong, having learnt from the life-experiences, you have harnessed on the way. (The same can be said for adults as well as students.)

To bounce effectively, and to enable yourself to be propelled back to where you belong, we need a team around ourselves. In addition, that team should be there to help, nurture and support us. It should be there to encourage, to advise, and to cajole. We also need experienced staff who will lift us up when we find ourselves at a low point, and encourage us to push ourselves beyond our own known limits to achieve a goal.

Now that we are edging ever closer to a period of normality, some of the key elements of HGS are returning for example, we are celebrating the return of trips and visits albeit on a day only basis but we are looking to plan residential trips to resume from the start of next academic year and sport, clubs and activities are slowly returning.

Sport has innumerable benefits. Many members of staff would admit that they probably do not do enough sport – I know I am in this bracket, as I seem to spend more time driving my own children to and from fixtures and training as opposed to actually partaking myself. Many would look back to their schools days with fondness and wish they were in a position where sport, aerobic activity and teamwork were locked into their working day. Sport has the ability to bring people together, whether that be as amateur footballer or cricket players, or elite rowers who have their eyes on the Paris Olympics in 2024.

As we emerge blinking into our post-lockdown world, travelling with calm caution yet excitement towards a newly moulded normality, I want to encourage, cajole and promote sports and broader outdoor activity involvement for every member of the community. Therefore, whatever one’s hesitancy, now is the time to get back involved in sport. I have outlined the benefits, and explained why the teamwork and the camaraderie make it so central to our community. But in addition to the health benefits, the work it does on resilience and the sheer emotions it empowers, sport is something that represents life itself. The more you put in, the more you will achieve. The harder you work as a team, the greater the mountains you will be able to climb. In addition, despite what political correctness says, life is not about everyone coming first, and competition will be a key element of every aspect of our daily existence.

So get your sports kit on, push yourself out of the house, and throw yourself into activities. There are memories to be made, friendships to be developed, dreams to be realised.

Stay well and safe.

Be kind to yourself and each other.

Dr Bird

I recently read about a piece of research conducted amongst 13,000 teenagers in England, the Netherlands and Sweden, regarding the relationship between a child’s popularity and their age-position in their class.

Previous studies have often looked at the effect of a child’s birth-month on educational outcomes, focussing on cognitive, social and physical differences. This study asked children who they thought was the most popular in their class and compiled a popularity score for each pupil linked both to their birth-month (“past relative age”) and to their age position in their class (“current relative age”).

Researchers found that relative age related to primary school cut-off was strongly associated with popularity in England, where pupils tend to move upwards every year regardless of school performance. In the Netherlands, where pupils repeat a year if their performance is inadequate, current relative age bore a sharper link to popularity.

It might therefore appear that the older you are in your class, the more popular and successful you are likely to be. However, the lead author of the report, Danelien van Aalst, makes a very good point:

“In some classes, the popularity hierarchy is … not necessarily related to being liked or being seen as a friend. Sometimes the most popular kids can be bullies and just have a lot of power and are looked up to for that reason, not because their peers like them. It is therefore hard to say whether popularity contributes to academic performance or educational outcomes.”

In other words, children are not always popular for positive or right reasons and it is actually fine not to be one of the ‘in-crowd’ or the ‘cool kids’. Although it is naturally important for our self-esteem and happiness to feel that we belong, having a small group of friends or sharing a common interest is actually far healthier for our children than trying to be someone they are not. We want them to be proud to be themselves, to have the courage of their own convictions, be inclusive and to care for others and stand up for and include those who are less confident. With the influence of peer-pressure, it is a lesson, which they do not always find easy to learn.

Van Aalst summed up the findings of the research study in this way:

“Overall, feeling safe and accepted was a prerequisite for concentrating on school tasks and performing well in school.”

Feeling safe is vital for everyone yet being accepted for the wrong reasons will never win lasting friends. Popularity can be easily lost, whereas respect and trust are always earned and run far deeper.

So, at home and at school, we should try to give the same reassuring message to our children, (whatever their age in their class!): Far better to choose respect over popularity.

Stay well and safe.

Be kind to yourself and each other.

Dr Bird