As we finish things off for the term today, our minds will be pre-occupied with one word: REST.

The word rest derives from the Old English ræst (noun) or ræstan (verb) and is Germanic in origin, relating to a break in activity. In Latin, the closest equivalent is requies, rest from labour, which has its root in quies. Quies was an integral part of the medieval monastic tradition and encompassed ideas of rest, quiet, repose, the cessation of labour, the leading of a quiet life and keeping still.

Students, staff and parents have tackled the various remote learning challenges head on during Trinity term, with excellent engagement in the provision on offer, as shown by the data. There has been a total of 14,271 positive class charts points awarded since we launched the system! I have highlighted our top scorers within this blog – well done to all! But I think we would all agree that rest is never more needed than at this present time.

Of course, even as we down tools for the summer break, in the modern technological world rest can be hard to find. With conflicting demands on our time, being at rest takes effort and, somewhat ironically, needs to be worked at to achieve! For me personally, it is the active pursuit of walking that enables my mind to be stilled.

Kate Humble, the presenter, wrote a book last year entitled Thinking on My Feet which describes how the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other and the rhythm of that action, enables the walker to free their mind from the burdens of the day, whilst creating small gaps through which creative ideas can seep through into the uncrowded space. When we are at rest, our minds have a tendency to wander and our brains are in fact busier when we’re not concentrating on a task than when we are.

I was recently reminded that the biggest world study of rest was undertaken by researchers at Durham University in 2016. The study, designed to investigate what rest means to different people, how they like to rest and whether there is a link between rest and well-being, involved 18,000 people from 134 countries.

At the end of the study, a list of the top most restful activities was published. It is interesting that many of the activities on the list are solitary ones which, after a period of remotely working alone, might not sound particularly appealing!

I did a quick poll of some pupils to see what they viewed as restful activities and there were some similarities. It would appear though that the key aspect to rest is getting the balance of the rhythms of our work, rest and time correct, with and without others. To truly feel rested we need both time alone to process thoughts and time socialising with others.

I would like to thank all families for their time and commitment to remote learning over this term and I hope you all manage some requies over the summer break in whatever form that takes. See you in September!

Classchart Points and W.O.R.L.D Awards Summary
for Trinity Term 2020