2020 Vision…

Derek Peaple shares his message for 2020 about having a clear vision for one’s self as he relates it to Star Wars- Warning, spoiler alert!

As we welcome in 2020, I want to focus – no pun intended – on having 2020 vision. 

Clarity of vision… and belief and purpose for the foreseeable, again no pun, future.

So what does having 2020 vision actually mean? 

20/20 is not, as might be assumed, as I had assumed, perfect vision.

People with 20/20 vision have normal vision. More specifically, clear and sharp vision. Someone with 20/20 vision can clearly see something at a distance of 20 feet – the same distance other people with normal vision can also clearly see the object. Sharply, and in focus. 

My assembly theme therefore strove to combine this idea of 2020 vision, with how my New Year started, watching this…

I think it’s relevant to the idea of looking forward, and having clear vision. I hope you’ll come see, again no pun intended, what I’m getting at.
To look forward, I first want to look back.
42 years to be precise…
When I first saw Star Wars all that time ago It really was in a galaxy far far away…

As I now reflect on all those films, one of the themes that comes across is that of the central characters not at first having the vision to see and understand who they are, to understand their purpose, their vocation, how they are and want to be… They are confused…
It’s starts with Luke Skywalker…
And most famously his background and struggle to come to terms with his identity…
And so it continues with the current crop of characters…
Culminating in Rey, the last Skywalker.

Towards the end of the film – I hope I’m not spoiling it – Luke comes back to her her as a Jedi spirit, to say: ‘The only fear is that of not knowing yourself’.
Emboldened, she gains the self confidence to see for herself what she wants to be be, ready to fulfil herself and her potential and overcome her doubts and fears to become the last Skywalker.
She achieves, if you like, her own version of 2020 vision.
So that was my 2020 message to our students, whatever the stage in their young educational lives, and the related challenges ahead,
Have the clarity of vision, the self-belief and the confidence to shape your future and become the very best version of you that you possibly can be…Have 2020 vision…Have a fantastic 2020…
And May the Force continue to be with you throughout it.

The author

Derek Peaple

Derek has been the Headteacher of Park House School since 2003, during which time he has played a leading role in regional, national and international education initiatives. He supported the design of the Values-themed London 2012 Get Set Education programme and was subsequently appointed as the first Chair of the Youth Sport Trust‘s National Headteacher Strategy Group. In 2013 he received the inaugural Sir John Madejski Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Sport and contributed to the House of Commons Education Committee’s Report, School Sport following London 2012: No more political football. Ofsted recently stated that, at Park House, a "values driven ambition for students inspired by the Headteacher drives the school’s effective improvement." The school has also just been identified in the top 100 state schools in the country for continuous improvement in GCSE results. Derek was shortlisted for the 2016 TES National Headteacher of the Year Award.

http://www.parkhouseschool.org/