As we move up and out of this pandemic we continue to be at the mercy of what is happening in the wider world which is so often out of our control.  What we have lived through for the last year has been challenging for many and my advice, as always, is to fix our eyes on what we can do and concentrate on those areas that we do have control over.  I remember teaching pupils who were really battling and I would often start by helping them to simply get their bedrooms in order, then to move on to their appearance, and slowly the wider picture began to improve.  If we get the small things right we can then begin to feel more positive about what the future may bring.

Many of us will have heard the Prime minister speak this week and it’s been uplifting to have received some dates of when things will be returned to us, finally removing some of the rather hopeless sense of uncertainty.  Let’s buy in to this and positively strive forward with a sense of hope for our children. Let’s not focus on what’s been lost but feel hopeful that in the last year of extreme uncertainty and ‘weirdness’ our children will have learnt some valuable lessons for life, even though their curriculum learning may have been a little depleted.  It’s lessons for life that I think matter more!