Students Present Excellent House Assembly On Value Of Time

The timing of Bayley House's assembly this week was perfect, as we reach the final stages of the 2017 revision season for both internal and external examinations.

Lower Sixth students Ria Patel and James Sawyer wrote their assembly on the 'Value of Time'. The following script explains their excellent live experiment: 

(The photograph accompanying this article provides a useful visual explanation.)

Ria: 'James and I each conducted an experiment with identical volume containers and the same quantities of ping pong balls, gravel and sugar. We loaded our containers in a different order.'

James: 'I started with the ping pong balls, then the gravel and finally the sugar.'

Ria: 'I put the sugar in first, then the gravel and finally the ping pong balls.'

James: 'As you can see, I managed to fit everything into my container, but Ria ran out of space and could not fit all the orange balls in her container.'

Ria: 'So, you may be wondering what the point of this experiment was!'

James: 'The containers represent our lives and the orange ping pong balls are the really important things in our lives: our family, friends, health and passions.'

Ria: 'The gravel represents the other important things in our lives: maybe our jobs, hobbies and home.'

James: 'The sugar represents everything else, all the small things that are not vital for success in life or worth stressing about: for example, social media, video games or fake friends.'

Ria: 'Everything fits into the container, if it is put in the right order. If you put the sugar in first, then the gravel, you will not have room for all the orange balls. The same is true in life; if you put all your energy into the small things that are not really so important, then you will not have the time or energy for the things that mean more, namely your passions, health or relationships with the people in your life.'

James: 'We must pay attention to the things that are critical to our happiness, because everything else is just sugar.'

Ria: 'So, what can you take from this experiment?'

James: 'We all lead busy lives, especially at this time of year when we have to revise for external exams or summer exams. We would all probably rather be spending our time on social media, watching TV or just chilling!'

Ria: 'But now is the time to take this message really on board and prioritise. Revising is important, especially as success in exams may help us achieve our ambition, but it is also important to spend time with our friends and family to relax.'

James: 'We need to fit the small, unimportant stuff around the priorities and use our time wisely, especially over the next few weeks when all of us at school have exams to prepare for. Some of us are studying for internal exams, others for external ones which could help achieve future ambitions.'

At this juncture, James and Ria introduced a video on the Value of Time.

James: 'We all have one life to live and we can accomplish anything we want, if we use our time wisely and prioritise the important things in life.'