During these times, when there seems to be no positive news circulating around any of the world’s media outlets, it’s important to celebrate the incredible things that the next generation of our community are creating. Sadly, bad news seems to attract more attention than good, but I feel it is so important to celebrate what our young people are giving to society.

I was particularly struck by this during a visit to the incredible St Michael’s Hospice in Basingstoke last week. Some of our Year 9 Brighton Hill students had been working with patients at the hospice on an art project for several weeks and I was fortunate enough to be invited to the final event, when the inter-generational teams of artists presented their work, but also spoke about new friendships and bonds which they had made; none had expected this to happen, but it was very clear that this had been life-changing for the participants, both old and young.

Upon speaking to some of the staff and patients after the event, they were completely overwhelmed by how polite and positive our students had been. It didn’t come as any surprise to me – I know how wonderful most young people are these days – but they did admit that they’d had some preconceived opinions of how the youngsters might carry themselves. As a headteacher, I was slightly saddened by the fact that young people have poor reputations, but equally delighted that our students were able to reverse these opinions.

It isn’t just at our school where these projects are happening – they run at every school or college in the land. It’s just sad that more people don’t get to hear about them. I urge you to look beyond the negative comments some may make about what is taking place in our educational establishments (often on social media sites), and actually step back and applaud the work of the tireless school or college workers who go above and beyond, behind the scenes, to send our young people out into the world as well-rounded, exceptional individuals. 

Finally, as we approach Christmas, if you’ve got a youngster in the school system, please don’t underestimate just how much of a positive impact a kind word can have on a teacher or any member of staff at the end of a long term – it really does make the world of difference!