Summer is a great chance for children to discover a new passion. Once their classes are over, their time is freed up to explore something engaging and exciting.

When I think back to my summer holidays as a child, I’m sure I wasted hours of my life watching TV and playing computer games, but I don’t remember any of it. What I do remember are the things I discovered. One summer, I learned to sail on a lake near my house – I wasn’t very good at it, but I loved figuring out how to control the boat in changing winds. The next summer, I took a kayaking course on the same lake and discovered that if I really pushed myself, I could get past my fear of being trapped underneath it and learn to get out of a capsized boat. I’ve also learned archery, trampolining, script writing and more, as well as attending poetry groups, taking camping trips with friends and exploring every single section of my local library.

Many of the things I discovered in my summer holidays are passions which I have carried with me for the rest of my life. Some of them required the structure of lessons to begin with, and some just needed my parents to push me out the door and encourage me to find something to do with myself.

One of my favourite things now as a teacher is hearing students talk about their passions, whether it’s space, cars, polar bears or books. I hope they all get to spend some time this summer exploring these passions so that I can find out even more!