Shhhh...

I think I'm addicted to now. By that I mean I start to get a bit twitchy if something is going on and I don't know about it! If there is a big news story breaking, I'll be on Twitter for the rest of the day and watching BBC News 24 because I have to be the first to know. Even if something more low key is going on, I'll be checking my phone constantly to keep in the loop.

It can be quite difficult to switch off, both in the sense of turning off phones/computers but also mentally switching off. We love to have 'stuff' going on, whether it's listening to music while working or leaving the telly on for background noise while doing the washing up (I am as guilty as anyone!).

The value of silence tends to get lost in all of that. But for me, silence is so important. Firstly it gives me a chance to relax and unwind a bit. It also gives me a proper opportunity to think about things without getting distracted by a new notification or a farmville request. Silence in conversations can't last more than about 5 seconds without someone uttering the words 'well, this is awkward'. In church services, during the prayers they will often say 'let's keep a few moments of silence' which generally lasts no longer than 20 seconds. Silence needs more time than that and I think silence deserves more respect than that.

So why not try it: just for 5 minutes, turn off your gadgets, sit down and just enjoy the silence - I dare you.

A school like no other

It seems to be very fashionable at the moment to slam private education, generally by people who were educated in the state sector. I should probably say at this point that I was not educated in the state sector during my secondary school years *DON’T SHOOT* but I would like to try and explain a bit about my schooling from age 11-18.

Hiding in the rolling hills of West Sussex is a charitable, mostly boarding, independent school called Christ’s Hospital (CH) with a rich history behind it (I could bore you with it but you’re probably better off reading it on their website http://www.christs-hospital.org.uk/home/history-of-the-school/). Aside from the school’s slightly cheesy rebrand with the tagline ‘A school like no other’, it is actually pretty special. The word charitable means different things to different people but at CH it means that they are committed to providing an extraordinary way of life to bright kids who otherwise would have no chance of being able to afford it (of course if you can afford it, they’re quite happy for that too!). It does far more than simply provide an education and if that is a person’s sole reason for being there then I might suggest that they are in the wrong place.

Firstly, by its nature it brings people from every imaginable social background together and forces them to live in close confinement for 7 years – saying it like that, it sounds more like an extended Big Brother but that’s not what I meant! You very quickly learn to be tolerant of other people, an attribute that has served me well having just started university. But you learn that at any boarding school – what sets CH apart is the opportunity to get to know and make potentially life-long friends with people who I would otherwise have absolutely no reason to even meet.

In the last few years, the school was majorly affected by the economic disaster and had to work out how it was going to survive. The widely unpopular decision was taken to increase the number of full-fee (or almost full-fee) paying pupils in an attempt to balance the books. At the time, I was very vocal about my feelings which were not positive to say the least. Looking back on it, I’m not sure it was so bad after all. It meant that we got to mix with an even widen group of people but I think it had an even better effect on the ‘rich’ kids. If they didn’t come to Christ’s Hospital they would probably have ended up at one of the many other independent schools with other people from exactly the same socio-economic background as themselves, totally cushioned from the real world. CH brought these people into reality and socially enriched them for the better.

During my time at Christ’s Hospital the management had a big change of hands and as a result there was a large staff turnover. The school that I joined aged 11 was not the same as the school I left aged 18 and I’m still not sure if that’s good or bad. People often ask me ‘did you enjoy going to boarding school?’ to which my response is always a resounding ‘YES!’ One thing I do know is that there’s nowhere quite like it and I would never have changed my decision to go.