Headmaster’s blog 21/01/22

Our second week of term has passed smoothly, with Years 11 and 13 completing their mock exams, parents joining our online GCSE Options Evening on Tuesday, and our co-curricular activities now well underway. This means, alongside our usual clubs and sports fixtures, our GCSE Drama pupils were at The Young Vic last night, watching Best of Enemies. I’m delighted that our young people can make the most of our central London location to enjoy world-leading theatre performances like this, and I look forward to seeing more pupils visit places of interest, across our capital city, in the weeks ahead.

As you may have heard in the mainstream media, the government’s recommendation for secondary pupils to wear face coverings during lessons has now been removed. In addition, from next Thursday, face coverings will no longer be required in communal areas within schools. Thank you for your previous adherence to this guidance and please remember that lateral flow test kits can still be collected from reception in either of our buildings.

Earlier this week, Ms Bainbridge hosted our GCSE Options Evening online, and it was great that so many parents were able to join this session. As I said in my opening comments, it is an exciting time for our boys to have real agency in their curriculum choices and to look ahead to their public exams. Any boy, or parent, who has any questions at all about this process should, of course, just ask – tutors are a good place to start, and they will be able to point you in the right direction if they are not able to answer the question themselves.

In assembly today, I talked to our young people about the value of silence, and how it is something that we seem to be able to find less and less frequently in our busy world. I spoke about the well-documented positive effects on the brains of individuals who make time for silence in their lives, and how we can all find time for moments of calm in our week. So, with this in mind, I wish you a calm and quiet weekend!