Head’s blog
I hope you have all had a lovely half term and managed to enjoy some of the good weather. Neither of the weeks coincided with my children’s half term which has been this week. Nevertheless, I did catch up on some work, a bit of sleep and we had a delightful but crisp weekend on the West Sussex coast. Needless to say, I did not attempt to resurrect my ‘surfing career’ on this occasion.
Half Term Trips
Our Year 7 and 8 rugby tourists did try out surfing at San Sebastian over the Half Term with far greater success than my attempts last summer! The boys had a fantastic time playing rugby against some tough opposition in Biarritz. We also had a joint History and Art trip to Venice and Florence. All the children were a credit to the school and I would like to say a huge thank you to the staff who gave up their holiday time to accompany the children and a special thank you to Mr Bird for organising the rugby tour and Mr McNulty and Mrs Smith for arranging the Italian cultural experience.
Don’t worry about feeling silly
Mr Symes led the theme of the week which was a return to the growth mindset philosophy. We have embraced the idea that intelligence is not fixed and emphasised the importance of the power of practice at Belmont over the last few years: in fact, two of our three values, ‘try your best’ and ‘embrace challenge’, epitomise growth mindset principles. Mr Symes’ Chapel invited numerous children to volunteer to take part in some acting and dancing on stage to the narrated story of ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’. The outcome was a powerful message about keeping going, trying different strategies and not being afraid of looking a bit silly. I was amazed in the confidence of all the children on stage, how expressive they were and how expertly they danced around the stage. It really was a great demonstration of growth mindset in action and was highly amusing. Nathan, 7GT stole the show as Gerald the Giraffe!
Headmasters’ Commend winners
Nathan 7GT– Brilliant improvisation, dancing and showing a growth mindset in action during Chapel.
Dhruv 6JN – a wonderful holiday project on Gothic Architecture, including a 3D model.
Best wishes,
Leon Roberts
