Leadership Likes: Mr King

Mr King considers the importance of balance when it comes to instant or deferred gratification and realises that Croydon High pupils enjoy the best of both.

My resolution for this New Year is quite firmly to make no resolutions, promises or pledges as we start 2023. Not in January anyway. Instead, following a period where many of us may have indulged in good food, recreation time, travel or presents, I found myself thinking about the concept of delayed gratification.

Our pupils “landed” back into school life with mock exams, but also inspiring lessons, new clubs, practices, rehearsals and the prospect of visits from famous authors, trips to exciting places, and (joy of joys) on Monday, some of them will be watching a boy band in school! With so much on offer, delayed gratification is a tough concept to demonstrate at Croydon High School, I thought.

However, to take a different view, there are many instances where our pupils are expected to “wait” for their rewards, which can be a challenging concept as they grow up in a modern world where driving down waiting time is often a key performance indicator. I’m reminded of the hedgerow planted last year, whose impact will develop over the course of years. The Junior school bees are buzzing and, we hope, happy, but our younger pupils will have to wait a year before we will be enjoying any honey.

Other projects which take time to develop are not hard to find. I have always loved the collage of eyes peering out from the artwork which hangs outside my office. It was produced as a result of pupils submitting their own interpretation of a pair of eyes, inspired by what was the focal point of our interactions during mask-toting, covid times. As they worked on them individually at the time, pupils had no idea how their artistic efforts would combine with that of others to create something so striking and thought provoking.

The Astrogazers Club members have been patiently waiting for their opportunity to launch a space balloon; the moment edges ever nearer but as they tick off the days of the calendar they know the hours of preparation and planning will make lift-off even sweeter. Similarly, the Sports Tour to South Africa in October will be the highlight of some 30 or so pupils’ year, no doubt, but they will still have to earn it through training and fundraising efforts between now and then. In fact, there are a myriad of trips taking off which will have been on the “back burner” but are coming around soon. The cities of Naples, Bonn, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Barcelona are also all due to welcome Croydon High School pupils over the coming months. Waiting through the covid years has certainly taught us to appreciate the many opportunities to travel, to interact and to collaborate that we perhaps took for granted before.

So it would seem, in the possibly bleak January times, that there are plenty of daily activities to occupy the pupils at school, and opportunities for delayed gratification too. And for those who like to do so…..only 346 days to go!

Mr King

Deputy Head (Pastoral)