A message from 
Rich Jones, Head.

Except for visiting the dentist and eating tofu, I don’t tend to get too nervous about things these days. I think, as we progress through life, we create and develop a sort of thick scarred rhino hide through involvement and experience that builds resilience and our ability to handle and cope with situations, however difficult.

This, sadly, was not always the case.

I would get nervous before presentations, before matches, in examinations and certainly landing in slightly sketchy countries on my travels around Africa and the Middle East. For a period though, I had a grave fear: I didn’t like performing in my school drama studio. This fear came firmly from my first-ever drama lesson at school. I was a pretty cocksure chap who enjoyed drama so when I got to ‘big school’ I was excited about the prospect of acting. We were instructed to sit down on the black, shiny plastic floor and the teacher then asked for a couple of volunteers: I thrust my hand up quickly.

Sensing my eagerness, she beckoned me up in front of all my new classmates, including a lot of girls that I was just about to hugely impress. As I jumped up with confidence, I loudly, explosively and for, seemingly like an eternity, broke wind. Its rattle and bubble against the vinyl floor only made matters worse. I jumped back down like I was trying to smother a grenade and waited for the laughter to subside. Understandably, from that point of hijack onwards, I didn’t really have a drama lesson where I wasn’t wracked with nerves…

I saw a healthy dose of nerves around school this week; those tightly bound groups waiting to go into their V Group (Year 11) mock exams; a huddle of people waiting to audition for the upcoming Junior School production of Moana (including a really convincing chicken); a nervous singer readying himself before performing for some OAP VIP guests this afternoon at our Christmas Community Tea; and, of course, the start of the cross-country jitters for those in the Senior School.

Perfectly natural, perfectly normal.

I think we are sometimes nervous about nerves…and perhaps we don’t need to be.

Feeling nervous doesn’t mean you’re underprepared. It usually means you care about something beyond your control. As Adam Grant said “Anxiety is a caricature artist. It magnifies flaws and minimises strength.” However, a lot of studies have discovered that rather than always being considered a limitation, anxiety may actually help us feel more motivated and prepared when faced with challenges. Anxiety, of course, helps release dopamine, which supports that human impetus.

Anxiety isn't always a negative thing. A little bit of anxiety and nervousness can help prepare us to deal with threats, perform well and prompt us to keep working toward our goals. Too much anxiety, however, is not fine. As ever, it is all about balance.

I am rather mistrustful of people who project complete confidence. I am suspicious of those who wander in without a clumsy misplaced step, without a button or word out of sequence and those who glide effortlessly between erudite conversations and never spill anything down themselves. I watch them in awe initially and then it soon dawns on me that this is a game we all play – we are all masking to an extent. Confidence is important, true confidence, but just like anxiety and nerves it is fickle and nuanced. Gaining confidence is not about denying what could go wrong. It is about recognising what might go well…