I love starting the New Year: it is always full of promise, potential and possibility. And that’s why making New Year Resolutions is so important. In our first assembly of the year, I gave all pupils and staff three post-it notes on which to write their three most important resolutions.
I was expecting to read the usual ‘study hard, exercise more and lose weight’ in the flutter of post-its on the wall. Instead, however, I was quite surprised to read that most of the focus was on two main themes: reading more and using the smart phone less. Interesting. I thought we had covered reading with the DEAR initiative we introduced to the school whereby our pupils read in silence for 15 minutes three times a week in tutorials, but we clearly need to find more time for reading; this connects to the second most popular resolution.
There has been much research about the effects of using the mobile phone. In one recent report, it is estimated that on average we touch our smart phones 2,617 times a day. Think how much distraction, sleep deprivation and lack of focus this figure suggests! It’s time, therefore, that we help our young to curb their phone addiction. To this end, we have decided to have a digital detox once a week for an entire school day. Who knows; we may find time to read more…
