This week is National Dyslexia Awareness week, a time that individuals with dyslexia from all backgrounds and walks of life will be celebrated. The British Dyslexia Association website sets out the theme for the week:

‘At the British Dyslexia Association, we know that each person with dyslexia experiences it in ways unique to them. Each will have their own set of strengths and challenges and tread their own path through life. We want to celebrate the diversity of the dyslexic community and the rich variety of lived experiences of dyslexia. That's why we have chosen the theme of Uniquely You for Dyslexia Awareness Week. You are special. You are distinctive. You are exceptional.’

What a powerful message, ‘You are special. You are distinctive. You are exceptional.’ This is clearly not just a message for Dyslexia Awareness week or those with dyslexia; it is a message I know all our schools focus on with pupils and students. As I move around the Diocese, I can see that this message is promoted through church schools’ distinctive and theologically rooted vision, encouraging pupils to be individual, unique and the best that they can be so that they can flourish in all areas of life.   As I was reflecting on my school visits, it made me question what does that mean for the adults. Staff in school are excellent at encouraging children to be uniquely themselves, celebrating their gifts and talents, but how easy is it for the adults in schools to apply that to themselves? It is certainly just as important for the adults in our schools as the pupils.

In Psalm 139:13-14 the writer David states

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

I wonder how many of us feel we are special, distinctive and exceptional, or fearfully and  wonderfully made on a daily basis.  I wonder if some of us when asked to do something new have an automatic reaction of ‘who me? Surely someone else could do  a better job’. Often we feel a sense of imposter syndrome: that surely, it’s been a mistake that we have been asked. However, taking learning from the British Dyslexia Association’s Uniquely You theme and Psalm 139, we need to remind ourselves that, as people created as unique, only we can bring what we bring, no one else can.  We are unique, our gifts and talents are unique and therefore what we bring to our day is of upmost importance.

So perhaps next time you are reminding pupils and students that they are special, distinctive, exceptional and fearfully and wonderfully made, let’s also remind ourselves that the same applies to us.

Lynsey Norris 

Assistant Director of Education