In the middle week of Term 2, starting with a wet Monday morning, I considered how the students would be contemplating their coming week’s schoolwork. Year 8 returned last Friday afternoon from a glorious three days away with Outdoor Education learning. They seemed remarkably fresh and alert when they arrived back at School, happy and joyful, and even their Teachers seemed remarkably chirpy. This had also been NAPLAN week, so now we find ourselves in middle of term routine, but with Senior School examinations looming for Years 10 to 12. I spoke with one of our Year 11s on Friday morning and they told me that they had so little time they had to give up their paid work to concentrate on their school assessments. Each person will find themself having to make such decisions about how they can manage their busyness, and much of this is about thinking ahead and prioritising activities. In my experience, the students who plan ahead with their time, will be the best organised, and this is a characteristic of the most successful people. Time is so relative: Year 12 in seven schooldays, will have completed half of their English course’s assessments. To maximise their results, we need our children to understand how precious is their study time. Thinking ahead will help them use their time well, but it will also help them to set goals for their short and longer term career aspirations and ideas, and this will provide motivation. Whilst there will be many ways that people can get to their end point, the quicker the better, is likely to be an advantageous path to the future. I am mindful that having multiple options is better than having only one possible route. Students can of course find their ‘true way’ some years down the track, but my belief is that learning is only good, and maximised learning is most productive and positive for any person. So time and thinking ahead are not to be wasted, for anyone.