Insights | Stay engaged this summer
Andrew Willis
You may be surprised to learn that the summer holiday is a vestige from a time when more of us lived in the countryside than in the city. Summer is peak growing season. Back then, families needed as many hands in the fields as possible. So schools accommodated them by granting their pupils long summer holidays.
Educationally, this arrangement makes absolutely no sense. With a gap of two months, we stand to lose a lot of what we learned during the school year. We would all be better served with a continuous academic year broken up by several smaller breaks.
But who am I kidding? I am as excited about the summer holiday as you are!
With that in mind, I encourage all of you, pupils and parents alike, to make the most of this holiday. Here are some ways you can keep your mind sharp and enagaged, so you will return next academic year ready to hit the ground running.
The biggest trap most of us fall into during the holiday is losing our routine. You are no longer compelled to wake up at a certain time; your day is no longer regimented by classes and CCAs. Then, by the time school resumes in autumn, it is a struggle to readjust. You lose valuable sleep. It is harder to focus in class. Those first few crucial weeks are wasted, and you spend the next few weeks catching up. This is why keeping some kind of routine during the holiday is a good idea.
This not to say that every waking minute of every day must be accounted for by some kind of academic pursuit. But getting up regularly at reasonable hour — not too much later than you would when school is in session — and timetabling your day for enriching activities as well playing and socialising will keep you on track and ready to return this autumn.
When we have down time, technology often becomes the natural filler. We have all been there. You have nothing to do, so you look at your device. You scroll through this. You click through that. 10 minutes becomes a 30 minutes. 30 minutes becomes an hour. The next thing you know, four hours have gone by and all you have done is look at cat videos.
So try regulate your screen time. We have meat-free Mondays, why not institute in your weekly calendar a "tech-free Tuesday" or a "screenless Sunday". This is not to say that all of this technology is a bad thing in itself. But when you do use your device, do so with intentionality — have a purpose other than to just fill time. Use it to learn something, to create something.
Parents, you have an active role to play here. You can negotiate the terms of technology usage with your children. Come up with an agreement. Maybe even put it in writing and sign it so there is no ambiguity. Adults are not immune to tech addiction; make yourselves accountable to the terms of the contract too!
A long break gives you the freedom and flexibility to dive into something new, to discover a new passion. I, for example, have decided to brush up on my French this summer. Is there a language out there that you would like to learn? Perhaps there is a new sport you want to try. Maybe you would like to finally get into chess.
The most rewarding pursuits are those that you can develop, that require you to grow a skill. But with the right approach, even a seemingly passive hobby presents opportunities for personal development. Perhaps you are a film enthusiast. Rather than just watching a lot of movies, take the opportunity to hone your critical thinking skills, learn about cinematography or film history.
This goes without saying. I have a stack of books that I cannot wait to devour this summer. First, I plan to finish The Autobiography of Maclolm X. After that: Norman Mailer's The Fight, Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and The Year of the Horse by Steven Jacobi.
Reading is a wonderful solitary pursuit, but it does not have to be. Find a book to read with a friend or family member. Get together to discuss the plot and the characters. If it is non-fiction, interrogate the text. How does it apply to your life?
If you are at a loss as to what you would like to read, Mrs Jacobi, our librarian has provided some excellent selections in our annual summer reading lists:
Our summer '21 reading list: Prep School edition
Our summer '21 reading list: Senior School edition
Parents, the thing children want most is not a trip to Disneyland or a new iPad. They want attention from the people whom they love, admire, respect and are closest to. In other words: you. With that in mind, find activities that you can do together as a family.
This could be a sport or maybe a weekly game night. You could even get into a television series together. There is a wealth of smart programming out there with intricate characters and artful dialogue that will no doubt spark a stimulating conversation at the dinner table. The possibilities are endless, just make sure you are enjoying your time together.
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To all of our pupils: Enjoy your much-deserved break! I look forward to seeing all of you again this autumn.
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