Welcome back to Term 2. 

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable time during the break and enjoyed the incredible weather we experienced. In eLearning we are excited about Term 2 and what it brings for the boys and teachers at Wyvern.

During the holidays, I spent a lot of quality time with my wife and our little baby George. During the two weeks we went to a lot of cafes and enjoyed a baby not yet on the move. We are well aware that this will change very soon so we tried to maximise this experience as much as possible. While out and about we noticed the amount of families that were at cafes or restaurants. On one occasion a family was sitting at a beautiful park cafe and were all completely engrossed in technology. There was not a single conversation had between anyone apart from the polite thank you to the wait staff. This got me thinking about families and how we are often distracted by our devices. How can we ensure that when spending time with our children we are present and engaged in conversation with them and not our phones?

#DeviceFreeDinner is a concept that has been around for a few years now and it is one that promotes families dropping their devices and engaging with each other over dinner. The website www.commonsensemedia.org has a large collection of resources to help aid a device free dinner. It offers conversation starters, video prompts and also resources to aid a healthy media diet. 

The resources offer insights into the benefits of family conversation at meal times. The research states that;

• Family mealtime can contribute to greater academic success.
• Family mealtime is linked to fewer behaviour problems.
• Families who share mealtimes at least three times a week are more likely to eat healthy.

At home this term I am aiming to put some of these into play and have a device free dinner every night. If you have any further questions about this, please do not hesitate in contacting me or popping in to see me at school. 

Tony Cross
eLearning Wyvern House and Lindfield Preparatory School