Welcome back! It is good to see you again at the start of this new calendar year. I wonder whether you have come back with clear resolutions or with a determination not to have them. I suspect that both schools of thought will be represented here. For those of you who are weary or nervous of such declarations of intent, you may like the following extract from a poem by Brian Bilston that I heard over the holiday: 

This was the year that was not the year 

This was the year that was not the year 

I repainted the kitchen door  

I didn’t clear out the living room 

Though it needed it, I’m sure  

This was the year that was not the year  

in which I launched a new career. 

A West End hit eluded me, as did Time Person of the Year. 

This was the year that was not the year I became a household name. 

Action figures were not sold of me. 

I wasn't made a dame. 

This was the year that was not the year  

I spent less time on my phone. 

I didn’t do much exercise 

And I still haven’t grown.  

While I like the calm understatement of the above and its challenge to unrealistic aspirations which may lead only to anxiety and disappointment, I think on balance that I am in favour of using the January punctuation mark in our academic year to refresh our eye on the future, both in school and outside.  Whether one describes them as resolutions or something else, there are likely to be academic targets, but perhaps also intentions for sport, music, drama, dance, outward bounds activities, community service, clubs and societies, or entrepreneurial initiatives. You may well have heard of SMART targets; SMART is an acronym which means specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. My only suggestion as you consider resolutions for 2025 would be to consider this language to avoid the vague dream of global stardom from our poem. 

However, I make no apology for now challenging you, as you think of the year ahead, to dream a little. I direct you to consider ways in which you can retain, foster and develop a spirit of wonder and curiosity, while also reflecting on chances to be a good person by exploring friendship and kindness, in the spirit articulated in this morning’s bible reading from Proverbs. Here are some statements from different areas of activity to pique your curiosity: 

Wonder and Curiosity 

• The East Atlantic Flyway: this is a migrating bird route from the tip of South Africa to the Arctic Circle: overall, it involves 75 countries and 90 million birds from 297 species. It goes through East Anglia and is the reason why Norfolk is on the shortlist as a Natural World Heritage Sites. 
• The Connectome of female fruit fly was completed in 2024 to much excitement. It comprised of 140,000 neurons and more than 54.5 million synapses in a brain that is smaller than a pinhead; if you have not seen it, the image of the connectome is an aesthetic and scientific glory. Yet it also tantalises for the future: it captures processes such as movement and sight, yet so far only neuron connections through chemical synapses are recorded but there is nothing about electrical connectivity between neurons or chemical connections between neurons outside synapses. Oh, and humans have a million times as many neurons, so plenty of room for further research. 
• And finally, while I am throwing out big figures what about the difference between …illions? There are 86, 400 seconds per day, so 1 million seconds (6 x 0) is 11 days;, but 1 billion (1000 million; 9 x 0) is 32 years. Why might this be interesting? If one were to think about such big figures in terms of population and excessive wealth, one might consider that there are over 8 billion people on the planet (remember 9 x 0). 2,781 of them in 2024 are dollar billionaires and their combined wealth is $14.2 trillion; now 1 trillion (12 x 0; 1000 billion) in terms of seconds is 31,710 years; that takes us back 10, 000 years before cave paintings in France. 

It is not for me to comment further on these statements, but I hope you will take a spirit of wonder and curiosity about the world around you into this new year, and perhaps even a little activism. 

Some of these enormous figures, or other innovations such as Space X’s rocket-capturing giant chopsticks, may seem overwhelming, so I finish by focusing you on stories to draw out our shared humanity; perhaps they will stimulate you to think of opportunities for friendship and kindness. They come from the BBC’s 100 heartwarming stories from 2024: 

Friendship and Kindness 

• 70: a group called The Heart of Newham in Scotland knitted tallest Christmas tree (16 feet), perhaps a challenge for our Knitters and Stitchers; 
• 30: a 5 year-old started a project of reading his favourite stories at local Care Homes, something which reminds me of our primary school reading initiatives; 
• 9: Boomers – a daytime disco for 65+, perhaps something for our L6 Community Service teams to consider; 
• 4: Makagroup- a team of student cleaners who volunteer to tidy up street signs, something with clear potential for those considering DoE volunteering projects; 

Overall, I encourage you to make most of the opportunities available to you in 2025, being open to the strengths, weaknesses and foibles of human condition, not least our keen sense of the absurd: 

• 96: singing Welsh train conductor; 
• 67: Josh Benson, aka Yorkshireman, diving to 6 feet Yorkshire pudding and 2000 litres of onion gravy; 
• 10: the father who forgot his own daughter for the walk down the aisle at her wedding; 
• 7: known as Scouse Baby, a charming film of a baby babbling without words but in a clear, broad Liverpool accent. 

Welcome back and do have a great term!