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Posted on: May 19th 2023

Headteacher Update 19.05.23

Alaric govan sml pic

Week 32: The Power of Positivity

About ten years ago, I attended a course run by an inspirational speaker, Andy Cope. He runs a website titled, ‘Art of Brilliance’ and talks very enthusiastically on this subject. He’s written a number of books on this too. His argument, backed up by research, is that positivity has a number of really key benefits, including improved happiness, greater self-confidence, a stronger immune system, being more focused, and (the most obvious one) being more pleasant to be around.

When I attended his course, he challenged all of us to a simple experiment: to wake up every day and tell ourselves that we didn’t have toothache. It sounds silly, and most of the audience (myself included) laughed and looked around at each other to see if anyone else was buying his argument. But I tried it. What it made me do was firstly be glad that I didn’t have toothache; it also made me smile each morning at the stupidity of starting my day this way. It worked though - instead of starting the day thinking about how tired I was, I was focusing instead on being grateful that I wasn’t in pain.

I did this for about two weeks before I forgot, and went back to starting my day by staring at my alarm clock in disbelief.

I was reminded of this earlier this week when I read that Oprah Winfrey, the incredibly successful American chat show host, used to start each day by writing five positives into her journal. She did this because she found, despite her wealth and success, that she wasn’t actually any happier than she had been before her fame. Focusing on a few things to be grateful for each day helped her appreciate all of the positive things in her life.

I’ve started doing it this week, and I can definitely see why she made this one of her daily habits. So, I thought I’d share some:

  1. We have made some really good staffing appointments this week, in a range of subjects. Staffing is always something that preoccupies me at this time of year, so it is really exciting to know that we have been able to recruit people who will complement the strong staff we already have at this school.
     
  2. The first whole-cohort GCSE examination took place this week. Most of the students seemed positive coming out of the exam hall. This should hopefully build some confidence for the exams still ahead of them.
     
  3. A member of the public took the time to contact the school this week to praise the behaviour of some of our students. It’s always rewarding to hear people talk so positively about our children. Before I joined this school, I regularly drove through Chichester and saw children in purple uniform conducting themselves admirably. It’s nice to be a part of it now.
     
  4. There was success in the Year 8 cricket this week against Prebendal and Midhurst. It was our first ever fixture against Prebendal so a good way to start this rivalry.
     
  5. Finally, after weeks and months of waiting, the weather seems to be improving with sunny forecasts all week. Hopefully, this is the start of summer!

Have a good weekend.

Chichester College visit CHS
TKAT ACE students visit Goodwood Aerodrome
Hegarty Heroes

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