The Head addressed pupils in the Cathedral on the first day of Lent Term. You can read his Address below:
Happy New Year to you all from me, too! I hope you have had a restful break; it is very good to be back in the Cathedral with you all now.
Despite the dark mornings and short days, I like the start of the new calendar year. In terms of the school year, we have already completed our longest term, so there is a strong sense that we are well into our learning. Nevertheless, January and the concept of New Year’s Resolutions still give us a chance to improve our practice: to challenge bad habits and refresh good ones.
You may have ideas about resolutions at school: how to apply yourself more efficiently to your academic work; how to be more active physically; how to practice your music instrument more consistently. Alternatively, it may be something outside school, such as forming a band with friends, being more helpful around the house by actually unloading the dishwasher, or playing football or cricket for a local club. Or it may just be something random, such as consistently remembering the word for grapefruit in French (it’s pamplemousse, by the way).
Whatever it is and whether you call it a resolution or not, I think having goals for the period ahead is healthy, as long as they are kept in appropriate perspective. Such goals fit in with phrases we hear a good deal about in common parlance, “a growth mindset”, “living our best life”; “being the best version of oneself”. These phrases are also positive, provided they do not simply become cliches with no practical application. After all, such aspirations are not new; for Aristotle, it was called eudamonia (flourishing), while Hildegard in 11th century called it viriditas (greenness).
So, let’s have a think about making such good intentions actually happen. There are several key concepts here, I think. One is that the image at the start of this new year is perhaps not so much cyclical, simply going back to the beginning and repeating again, but more of a spiral, building on and improving good behaviours. The other is that it takes proactivity from the individual; you actually have to do something about what you want to achieve in order to achieve it, thus tying in neatly with today’s bible reading which talks about asking, seeking and knocking: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”.
However, the most important concept for me regarding how to think about and set about 2023 at the start of this new term comes from a sociologist, Aaron Antonovsky, who did much work with Holocaust survivors. He was interested to explain their survival and living of fulfilling lives after their incarceration during World War Two. He asked the question “Whence the strength?”, ie where do people who have encountered but overcome such significant trauma get their resilience from? Antonovsky felt that coherence was key and gave three areas of it: meaningfulness, comprehensibility, manageability. Comprehensibility is whether you understand enough about a task or role to complete it satisfactorily, while manageability is whether you have the resources and skills to do so. Meaningfulness is for me the most interesting and Antonovsky also held that it was the most important; it refers to one’s sense of purpose in taking on the activity in question. Is it worth me investing my energy and attention in this challenge? Transposed to our lives, it is understanding why we are doing something, why we are making a New Year’s Resolution in the first place: the purpose of our homework, the desire to pick up a new dance move, the wish to get to the end of the story we are reading.
For me, that sense of purpose comes from my deeply felt conviction about the power of education and my desire to help young people at this crucial, formative time of your lives. I love coming into school because I get to be involved in the hundreds of positive educational experiences that take place in our community every single day.
I wonder what gives you your sense of purpose and coherence, your meaningfulness. Go back to what you were thinking when I was talking about resolutions, but now in a new light. Ask yourself why you want to do better academically, get involved in more creative opportunities, or improve your vocabulary about French fruit; finding the “why” is key.
There will be different drivers in various aspects of your lives, but I suggest that all these achievements in particular areas are held together by how you are as a person, overall; how good a friend you are, both at school and at home, how you carry yourself in life in general terms. This purpose ties in with the timeless values which we espouse here at Norwich School: love, inclusion and compassion. They were also obliquely referenced in the bible reading: “do to others what you would have them do to you”.
Whatever your specific targets, try to incorporate them into a wider coherence in 2023, based on how you will seek to be a positive contributor to our community and the wider world.
Welcome back indeed!