Slowing down and gearing up

How our behaviours can reflect the changing of the seasons.

Feb 20, 2025

a single white flower sitting in the grass — Photo by Marlene Lund on Unsplash

No voice recording this week I am afraid, I have succumbed to the ‘bug’ that is doing the rounds and I am taking my own advice - to rest my weary voice! Back next week.

Thoughts and musings

When I moved back to the UK in the summer of last year I was met with a sense of wariness by those who could not quite understand why I would leave the (mostly) sunny skies and warm climates of Spain and Dubai. Don’t get me wrong - I love the sunshine and I am exceptionally nesh (a middle/north of the UK reference meaning to run cold pretty much all of the time - cue layers and a hot water bottle!) However, to no-one’s surprise, the sole pull for me to move back to my home country was not the weather! Yet, it was certainly a consideration.

See - I missed seasons. If you have lived or spent any time in the UAE you will know that the year is pretty much divided into ridiculously hot, hot and warm. When I first moved over, my cousin (having lived there for almost a decade) described winter as summer and summer as winter. With that ‘wintery’ summer quality being the fact that you spent most of your time indoors due to the 40 degrees plus temperatures outside (rather than blustery days full of rain and wind). The quality of the four traditional seasons which I missed was the idea of living life following nature’s cycles. There have been a number of books written about this but my absolute favourite has to be Kirsty Gallagher’s ‘Sacred Seasons’.1

So, what has this go to do with education? Well, the academic calendar is also a cycle. Organised into three terms with a nice long break for summer (for most). Our mindset is conditioned into the expectations of these terms (and if you are lucky enough to have them, the half-term breaks) and often reflects any important dates of celebration (either school-centric, country specific or worldwide). Equally, the terms are split into progress markers. Data drops, parent meetings, reports. During these times, educators take a pause and make alterations or additions to providing targeted learning experiences for groups of children to either fill gaps or push understanding on (hopefully this is also done with your Learning Assistant in mind for maximum impact.2)

However, the academic calendars do not always reflect the cycles of the natural world. An all singing, all dancing Christmas production at the end of the longest term of the year, is a perfect example. An extra expectation requiring an abundance of additional energy from all adults and children involved! Now, this is not a suggestion to rally for changes to these traditional and embedded events. More so to illustrate how, when unavoidable, the juxtaposition between expectation of calendar events against the cold, dark and energy-depleting days of winter do not always go hand-in-hand! My hope today is to instead shine a light on the small changes we can look to make, in the bustling teaching profession, to preserve a little of our energy, and in-turn gear up that extra notch, using the reflections of nature to give us that extra little support.

Ideas and practical suggestions

So, how can we use the cycles of nature to help us make the most of the four season year in a potentially opposing three term academic calendar? Below are two suggestions which I hope can be actioned with minimal time spent preparing. Think of these more as a shift towards intentionality when considering ways you can slow down and gear up to protect and energise your time and efforts.

Firstly, I feel it is important to share that it took me at least 8 years of teaching to understand that I needed to look after myself better. I used to view September as the beginning of a starting line of a race which I sprinted head first into, only coming up for air when illness floored me and forced me to stop. Which of course I then didn’t enjoy or fully heal in as I was sat worrying about how far behind I was getting. A few life events and a move to Spain, where the phrase ‘mañana, mañana’ is staple, helped me to get off the treadmill which I had put myself on. Through slowing down, I reignited my love of teaching. I took the time to consider the moments of joy in the day. I saw the children as exactly that - little beings who were in my care for an academic year, learning at their own pace. Not robots who needed to conform to a ‘flight path’ (I truly detest this term) so that their data was not handed to me on a spreadsheet colour-coded as ‘red’. My reconnection with the natural world and yoga was my saving grace and I hope some of the ideas below may help if you also want to reduce your treadmill speed. Or perhaps get off altogether.

1. Living by the seasons

As illustrated above, if you live in a country which doesn’t have the four seasons I describe below, you may be able to fit these ideas and suggestions into your own natural calendar. The main ideas link to times to slow down and occasions to gear up.

Spring
- A good place to start as this is the season most of us are currently heading into. For schools also an interesting time, as for most this is when you may be considering applying for a new role or you have committed to continuing in your current position. Further afield you may have even secured a new opportunity.
- This is a season when you may feel your energy for starting something new, or becoming re-energised about an idea, increasing. A great time to read that book, listen to that podcast or sign-up for that course. For most, lighter mornings and evenings (and tentatively increasing temperatures) will help you to feel more like doing this. For further ideas on how you may want to consider starting something new, you might like to read my post, ‘Coach, Commitment, Community’.3
Summer
- The season of ‘doing’! The flowers are blooming, the now not so ‘baby animals’ of spring are frolicking about with new-found confidence and hopefully our creative ideas and after-school ventures are in full flow. For most, Summer Term is still a busy one. End of year exams may take place, there could be residential visits, perhaps an end of year performance, Sports Days. However, the birds singing, temperatures into the early 20s (we can but hope) and the promise of an after-work ice cream can help increase energy levels.
- This may also be the term where you have the flexibility to try something new in your classroom. Maybe you are auditing if you managed to ‘Walk the talk’4 this year - are there any ideas you want to embed for next year? In terms of hobbies and your own wellbeing, summer may also be the season where you feel you have “more time” (longer and lighter days) to head to that run club, join the football team, sign up for the art class. Productivity and flow is at an all time high.
Autumn
- My personal favourite season of the year. I adore the colours of the leaves changing, the smell of bonfires and Halloween! However, I am wary of the darkening nights and dropping temperatures. I also have always found the Autumn Term the hardest. I would love to know in the comments if you feel the same. It is long, I always felt the data pressure the most (despite knowing I had 2 more terms with my lovely bunch of kids) and illness is rife! It is really hard to slow down in this term, as nature is telling us to start to, as the new academic year is gearing up. We really do live in opposition to the natural cycle at this point.
- I’ve never quite cracked this time of year for my wellbeing. However, the more I have engaged with this idea the more I have been aware of my need to. Perhaps this is deliberately planning a quiet weekend in when I know the week is going to be a busy one. Or ensuring the plans I make reflect ‘cosy season’. A cinema trip, a walk with a cinnamon latte and a Sunday lie-in. You have to be really intentional with yourself here so that the mini-recharges allow you for the weekly gear-ups.
Winter
- My personal least favourite season (see above reference to me being ‘nesh’). Also the season which requires us to slow down the most. During the madness of Christmas (for those of us who celebrate). Once again, I have learnt (often the hard way after an illness which has stopped me in my tracks) that you have to be strict with yourself with the slow down! The same goes for the children too. Winter is likely to be the time where we see most of our pupils looking exhausted, sniffling away or falling asleep during the end of the day story. Yes, we have content to get through, but sometimes it is about taking the informed decision and putting the breaks on until our students are ready to learn. It takes forward planning but it could be worth the time.
- As with autumn, winter truly is the time to do as much hibernating as possible. Particularly before spring arrives. This is when you may be starting to have a little think about your intentions for the next academic year. You are perhaps making time to read that book that has been on your list for ages, which will spark a spring idea (more of these below). Winter, as well as resting, really is about preparing to gear up without the actual actioning of this.

2. February half-term suggestions

Today’s post was supposed to be a short one! In terms of my awareness that being on the February half-term break is my time to slow down. However, as the mornings are getting lighter (6:50am today), the birds are singing and a child in a Nursery class I was spending time with last week came up to me with a handful of snowdrops which she had tugged out of the ground announcing, “These are for my mummy”, I felt a pull to exploring our relationship with the seasons. Spring is coming!

So, my second suggestion is to share my spring reading list, as scribbled furiously down when I was recently invited to attend a taster session on Birmingham University’s Educational Leadership Masters course. What an inspiring day, with so many takeaways, including the following further reading recommendations: