Dr Michael Fordham, Principal of Thetford Academy, reflects on the challenging global events dominating the news and the responsibility schools have in helping young people make sense of them.
Sometimes the world can be quite a scary place. You only have to look at the news in recent weeks to have seen some pretty terrifying things happening around the world.
As I write, war has broken out between Iran and Israel, and we have already had a year of daily reports about violence in Gaza. The Ukraine war continues and shows no signs of coming to an end, despite more recent noises about a possible diplomatic solution. Just in the last week, we have seen significant news stories about plane crashes, child abuse, and murders.
Our role as schools in helping children understand the world is a complicated one. On the one hand, we want to keep children safe and protected, and to provide them with an environment where they can grow and mature without carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. At the same time, we have a responsibility to prepare children for the world they actually live in, rather than the world we wish they lived in.
That means that, at times, we have to tell children about the horrible things that are happening in the world, and do what we can to help them understand. I remain convinced that the most important question we can answer is “why?” And, although the answers are not always easy or obvious, we nonetheless make an effort to help our students understand why the things they hear about are happening.
But there is a balance to be struck. When I recently took assembly, I decided to focus not on one of several bad news stories, but on something different: the claim that a team of scientists from Cambridge might have finally found signs of life on a planet outside our Solar System. Stories of discovery and hope are, I think, ones that provide a useful counterpoint, and it is as important that children hear these stories as those that are somewhat darker.
Dr Michael Fordham
Principal, Thetford Academy
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