Mr Bolderow’s Blog 06.09.20

It started two years ago with The Penguin, it continued last year with The Adventures of Lobsterman and Oscar Tracey has made it a hat trick of victories in the Independent Schools Association Short Film Awards with Sleep.  His co-star and co-director Isaac Evans has been involved in two of the three wins and I congratulate them both.  The judge’s comments were very complimentary: “This is a truly outstanding piece of work; the filmmakers should be very proud indeed. Razor-sharp editing, atmospheric lighting, fantastic performances, and some effective jump-scares (especially the ghostly hand over the sleeping boy) made this a gruelling pleasure to watch. I am really interested to see what this group does next. Excellent!”

In spite of the challenges facing many undergraduates and universities at the moment (first-hand accounts from our first set of leavers suggest it has been far from easy), the Year 13 are still excited about planning for the next stage of their education.  The boys who have submitted applications are already picking up offers from some top universities: Queen Mary, Manchester, Exeter and Bristol so far.  Receiving offers is both a source of relief for the boys and also a great motivator.

We marked Remembrance Day this afternoon in our online assembly with all boys observing the silence and the Last Post being played over Teams.  I have remarked to the boys in previous years that it is unusual, but I think positive, to mark Remembrance in a school that doesn’t have a memorial to fallen former pupils and it has allowed us to take a different approach to other schools I have worked in.  Over the years that has seen personal reflections from a member of staff who was a former serviceman, one from a pupil about his grandfather’s involvement in conflict and last year was a historical reflection from Mr Warner.  This year we are focussing on the large numbers of non-Europeans who joined up to serve in a variety of roles and who are not always at the forefront of our minds when we think about those who gave their lives in the Great War.