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For a long time now ‘just managing’ has not been quite enough.

Just being happy enough to get to the end of the week in one piece (or even slightly broken) is just not an exceptional situation for me. 

For some time now I have looked on and tried to learn from different people, some who seem to be breaking and some who seem to be sorted. Understanding that there are different degrees of cleverness and these are paid back in different ways.

As I watch my daughter enter her GCSE year through both the eyes of a governor at the school and as a parent it’s interesting to see what the school thinks motivates all the parents.

Despite how much you may choose to push your daughter to breaking point to maximize her grades this is accepted in terms on ‘the future happiness’ and ‘future success’ of the child in question.

At no point in my daughters first four years at secondary school has anyone asked her to define what she thinks her future happiness might entail. It’s therefore difficult for me to see how they can pin it all on the hopes of her exams when they’re not quite sure whether those subjects fit in with what it is she wants to do and what she wants to be. Multiple A*’s (or 9’s as they are now called in case you’re out the loop) may guarantee you a place at the university of your choice to do the course of your choice but they will not protect you from breakdowns, physiological stress, upset or a life spent on the hamster wheel.

As far as I can see from the curriculum I view from the seat as governor at West Bridgford School they have not yet launched a GSCE in the ‘practical application of self happiness’.

But perhaps it is time, perhaps that might be a good idea.

Blog post number: 1423