A new challenge

Dream: to think strategically and with vision about our work in schools.

Develop: to consider different skills we need to grow for our work in schools.

Do: a resource idea related to this theme that you can take and use in your work.

Each month we will link you to downloads and continued reading at schoolswork.co.uk.

Dream

Bryony’s story

While on holiday in the South of France in the summer of 1992 with her family, Bryony thought she would try out windsurfing. It went well and she seemed to have a natural flair for the sport. As a result, and after many years of hard work and training, she represented GB at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and won a bronze medal. Bryony Shaw has since competed in other competitions and is now training hard for the Olympics in Rio this summer.

It was a fun activity on a family holiday which inspired Bryony to have a go. Her story reminds me that there are many opportunities we miss because we are either not willing to have a go, we ‘can’t be bothered’ or we are distracted with a busy schedule.

Not all of us will go to the South of France this summer or even go to a different country, but we will all have the chance to do something different with the summer break: to try a new skill or have fun with others taking on a new challenge. Not many of us will end up at the Olympics, but we may just find out new things about ourselves, grow in ways we never dreamed of and meet some amazing people along the way.

In our schools’ work page this month, we are challenging you to consider what you can do both for yourself and to encourage the students you work with, to take on a new challenge this summer. Schools’ work is rightly most often about what you do in schools, with students or staff. But what if it could stretch to more than that, to go on to inspire students to look around them this summer at opportunities and possibilities that they have never seen before, because they weren’t looking? We are going to use our ‘develop’ section this month, to suggest some practical ideas for you and the young people you work with.

Develop

We all need a good rest in the summer holidays and by no means am I denying that. However, there might be times when we watch a few too many Netflix episodes (is that just me?!), while you know deep down that it might be time to get out, visit somewhere new, get on that bike you haven’t ridden for years or try some creative baking experiments.

Perhaps some of the young people you work with spend most of their summer playing Xbox or in McDonalds. I know that is certainly true for some students I know. I am wondering how I could creatively inspire them to try a new challenge this summer, without having to spend very much (or any) money or travel to a different country. Here are just a few practical suggestions to start you off:

• Learn how to say five sentences in a new language (not one traditionally taught in school). You can do this for free online.
• Learn how to bake something new and have a mini bake-off competition with like-minded friends at the end of the summer.
• Look up walking or cycle routes near your house and plan a day or half-day out, either on your own or with friends and take a picnic.
• Learn a new skill or hobby, for example juggling, arts and crafts, or card tricks. Click here.
• Get inspired by the Olympics – look out for the ‘wildcard’ countries who are entered into the competition but may not have the resources to enable athletes to train to Olympic standard. Look up some past stories, for example Eric ‘the eel’ Moussambani and get into the true spirit of cheering others on.
• Think of what might be a help to one of your neighbours who might be elderly or less able and offer to do it for them (e.g. gardening, shopping).

Please do relax this summer, and encourage students you work with to have a good break too. But perhaps mix in with that a new challenge for yourself and for the students you will have contact with between now and the end of term. You never know what it might end up leading onto, with some hard work and determination as we read in Bryony’s story.

In the Bible, Jesus talks about coming to give people real and eternal life. In John 10:10 it says, ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’. As Christians we know that is about knowing Christ for ourselves, but I think it also suggests a way of embracing life with all of its opportunities and possibilities and growing that we may live out more fully who God has made us to be.

Do

For an end of term assembly, you could use Bryony’s story to encourage students to embrace all of the possibilities before them over the summer holidays. Make this into a fun challenge for students rather than a lecture, and you could even set up a way that students could come and share in an assembly in September about what they did either individually or together over the summer break.

Say to students that seeing others succeed in Rio this summer may allow us to dream bigger about our own lives. Encourage them, as you encourage yourself to take on a new challenge. Go on… be creative, think differently and tell us all about it in September!