What I'm thankful for

It's half term and I'm glad of the break; I need a week to catch up on the marking, planning and admin that I have allowed to build up over the past few weeks. I'm also hoping to be able to relax a bit as well, and maybe even have some fun. I may even get time to do some Thinking.

It's also been the first week of Lent. Now, I'm not the kind of person to give something up. I always find excuses. Instead, I often try and convince myself in some loose, hug-a-tree type of way that it's better to take something up instead. Something positive. Something useful.

Hmm.

A friend posted that this Lent he is going to be Not Busy. I wish that could be the case, but the next seven weeks are the busiest of the school calendar. Instead, then I should change my approach to that busyness.

I'm taking up being thankful for Lent.

It's harder than it sounds. I've found over the last few days I've had to rethink my approach to problems. At times I've even had to pause and ponder what I can be thankful for. It's been an exceptionally busy week and it's not been an easy one either. But so far it's working.

So here are some things I've been thankful for this week:

My amazing wife and family. I should be thankful all the time for them. Particularly this week as my wife generously postponed Valentines Day to the weekend to allow me to spend all hours working over the past few days.
I'm thankful for the fantastic pupils, especially the amazing year 8s, who gave up their time to enthusiastically film and edit a short film for a competition they are entering. The creativity of the 8s, the enthusiasm of the 9s, and the assuredness and confidence of the 10s and 12s made me proud thIs week.
I'm thankful that when we had a break-in this week, only physical objects were stolen, and I'm thankful there will hopefully be no lasting damage.
I'm thankful for all those lads who pulled together and helped out this week when things were tough.
I'm thankful for the opportunity to discuss alcoholism with year 10 and how maturely they dealt with some of the tragic things we discussed.
I'm thankful I knew a colleague whose funeral was this week and I'm thankful that even when I haven't got the answers, Someone Else looks out for us.
I'm thankful for a visit to my refurbished classroom, still a long way from completion, but looking brilliant...I'll be even more thankful if no pupils make it scruffy!

And I'm thankful for half term.