Spend Wisely

Imagine that every morning we woke up to find that £86,400 had been deposited into our bank account.  The only catch is that we have to spend it all in a day and that it cannot be carried forward to the next.  What would you do?  How would you spend it?  At such a time of uncertainty would we spend it differently or more wisely?  It would be nice to think so.

This scenario is one that we would normally be posing to our pupils at this time of year when we are asking them to think about how they spend their time; how do they make the most of what they are given in order to enrich their lives beyond the classroom?  Every day we start with 86,400 seconds. These are seconds that we only get one chance to spend and how we choose to spend them can truly enrich or bankrupt our lives.  At this time, this has never seemed more relevant. It is evident that many of us are choosing more wisely.  We are enriching our lives in ways that we never had, or made time for, before.  Whether this be learning something new, finally finishing that project, reading, exercising, supporting and caring for others or broadening our interests.  We are very proud of so many of our pupils who have risen to these new challenges and are trying out new things.  Many of whom have been nominated by one of their teachers for our Hot Chocolate Friday.  Here are just a few:

• Finley Bird in year 7 who has been sending Mrs Taylor photos of his cooking – MasterChef watch out!
• Joseph Edwards in Year 10 for winning Mrs Downie’s Grammar Home Fitness Quiz. He got 80% which was the top score.
• Kian Todd and Lani Vanes for continuing to work towards achieving their Duke of Edinburgh Awards from home.
• Harrison Gent in year 7 who looked up some French-speaking footballers and taught his Nan and Grandad some French.
• Ben Collins in year 8 who has done lots of research including looking up French artists and singing happy birthday in French to his sister.
• Finlay Hughes who has made a Burbage Football Club postcard to help his elderly neighbours and has shared this with the rest of his team.
• Mrs Cook and Mrs King who have been making ear mask protectors and visors for the NHS.

It is so great to hear of the so many amazing ways in which our Hastings Family are spending their time. We know that as time passes, this will pass too.  We cannot wait for the day that we welcome our pupils and staff back to school and start to adapt to our new normal.  Amidst all of this it would be nice to think that we re-emerge with a greater appreciation of time and how we choose to spend it; a sentiment that is beautifully portrayed in this poem by Kathleen O’Meara.

Miss Bradley