Another year has flown past and as we head towards the summer holiday, I thought you might be interested to hear the story that I shared with our Year 8 leavers today.
A child was walking along the beach after a terrible storm. The storm had washed hundreds of starfish up onto the shingle beach and as you might know, starfish cannot survive out of water for long. In this case, sadly, many had already died. But there were many more that were still alive.
So the child began throwing the starfish back into the sea one by one. At the same time, an adult was walking along the beach and saw the child. The adult stopped and asked, what are you doing? And the child said “I’m throwing them back, they can’t live out of the water so I’m saving them”.
To this, the adult replied, “There must be hundreds if not thousands of starfish on this beach. Throwing them back is a waste of time you can’t possibly get every one, I hate to say it but your efforts will never make a difference.”
In answer to this, the child tossed another starfish into the waves, looked up, and said, “‘I just made a difference to that one.”
I love this story because it reminds me that anyone can make a difference and that small actions matter. Making a difference in this world does not have to be big or showy or posted on social media to matter. What matters is that you actually DO it. You know that you can make a difference and do it with humility and generosity. Others will follow your lead and, in time, that difference may become huge.
Another thing I love about this story is that it shows how adults can learn from children. Their innocence and enthusiasm is infectious and we are privileged to work in an environment where we can interact with them every day. So thank you for lending us your children this year. Having read every single report, I am confident that they have all tried their best and I wish all of you a happy and relaxing summer. Enjoy having them at home and we look forward to starting again in September.
Ms Elizabeth Lyle, Head