Head’s blog
Assembly – Actual Mountains to Climb…
Continuing with the wintery theme, the children had a fantastic assembly on Monday when they got to see and listen to Mollie Hughes. At the age of just 26 Mollie has made her name as the youngest woman in the world and the first English woman to successfully summit from both the north and south sides of Mount Everest. Mollie spoke with passion and related her experiences to our core values of trying our best and embracing challenge.
Last week Mr Tongue was just as inspiring when he reflected on his choice of music for the Belmont Jukebox Challenge. He chose the Hymn Calon Lan (Pure Heart) as it is hymn very close to his heart that was played at his late grandfather’s (John Gwilliam) funeral just over a year ago. When he passed away at the age of 93, Mr Tongue found out even more about his amazing life. He captained Wales to two grand slam titles in the 1950s. As legend tells it he would get his welsh team to sing Calon Lan as loudly as they could with their dressing room door wide open before games against England at Twickenham to try to intimidate their opponents and prove they had bigger hearts. It worked as they beat them both times under his captaincy. A final claim to fame of his is that he was part of the last Wales Team to beat the All Blacks in 1953.
It is fantastic to get outside speakers in to inspire the children but just as powerful is hearing the unique and personal stories about our own staff and their families. It is wonderful that we have so many staff willing to share their stories and glimpses of their lives to the whole community in assemblies and chapel services.
Reading Week
I really enjoyed seeing the children and staff dressed up as fictional characters as part of World Book Day celebrations yesterday. There were some brilliant and hilarious outfits and I had great fun trying to guess which characters the children had dressed up as. Naively, I asked one boy, who was wearing a dress, what he was dressed as? ‘The boy in the Dress’ was the obvious response I received, much to the amusement of some parent onlookers. Thank you to Miss Bufton, Mrs Pendred and Mrs Hunt for organising author visits, exciting activities and trips for the children and the book fair. Reading week has been another huge success.
Headmaster’s Commends
(To be awarded in Monday’s assembly)
Avnish Mahan– For a thoughtful and reflective model, story and poem about ‘Skellig’
Isla Mackintosh– For being incredibly brave after hurting herself in challenging circumstances
Girls’ Cricket Success
Finally, last week I failed to mention our Under 13 Girls’ cricket team who were runners up in the County Borough Indoor final last Thursday. This result is incredibly encouraging given that many of our girls are young for Under 13 level and considering that we only launched cricket as a major sport for girls last summer. Well done girls!
I hope you have a lovely weekend with your family.
Best wishes,
Leon Roberts
