“Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony…”

Thomas Merton

Lashing rain, the nights drawing in, leaves falling from the trees. The latter part of October doesn’t always seem to be the best time of the year to have a holiday. All that said, I’m not certain that I would get a great deal of support for proposing to do away with the half term break.

Education, in the northern hemisphere, follows the patterns of nineteenth century agriculture, and the October break might well have been the traditional time for the potato harvest. As we aren’t a Victorian farming economy it is probably worth acknowledging that this remains a good time of year to have a break. Our young people are facing an ever greater range of pressures on their time. We expect them to maintain a wide range of activities and maintain perfect scores in tests and their schoolwork. After a little over seven weeks of this I think that they deserve a little break, a short time to recharge and refresh themselves before returning to school for the next half term. Young minds need to be stretched and challenged. They also need to be rested from time to time.

This week I spoke to the Senior School about the importance of talking about our mental health. We’ve long said that it’s ok to not be ok, but we also have to remind our young people that not talking about not being ok is not ok. I hope you are keeping up. Recent research suggests that approximately 60% of teenagers are reluctant to say that they are unhappy for fear of being stigmatised. We all know that small problems have the capacity to grow into larger ones if not addressed. We are looking for ways to ensure that our pupils have the places that they need to speak.

Alongside talking about challenges, we also promote an active and balanced lifestyle. The excellent organisation Action for Happiness have produced a poster which shows 10 keys for happier living (click image to learn more) and I hope that having seen it in assembly pupils might apply this good advice

to the forthcoming break. The coming half term allows pupils to spend some time living life at a different pace, doing things that will make them happy and taking stock of all they have achieved over the past seven weeks of learning. I’m not advocating staying in bed until the afternoon, nor am I recommending all work and no play, but I do think it is a good idea to get out in the fresh air, to sleep properly and to do some work too.

I hope that you have a good half term. For those who are travelling, safe travels and for those who are staying at home I hope you have a good break from the normal routine. When we return we will be working hard and looking forward to the excitement of all that the end of the Autumn term brings. Happy half term!

Nicholas Hammond

Headmaster