The human life is governed by nature and laws
Aristotle, 384-322 BC
As a teacher of Classics and History I have often found myself digging out a good quotation from one or other of the Greek, Roman or Medieval philosophers to start an assembly or lesson, and this, from Alexander the Great’s teacher, seems to sum up well the current climate. Although Aristotle was technically talking about natural law, to our young people (and perhaps some of us less-young people), taken at face value, this really is what life has felt like over the last several months.
That said, our Senior Pupils (and indeed all of our pupils) have not let recent trials and tribulations dampen their spirits and the return to school this term has been one of the most refreshing I have experienced in my career. A school without children is a soulless place and it has been wonderful to experience again the laughter, buzz and busyness of a full school. Pupils in Years 9 and 10 have launched into their GCSE courses with great enthusiasm and Year 11s have, once again, taken up the cudgels with purpose and urgency. I believe this is in no small part due to the continuity of education which we provided over those difficult months – the children and staff have been able to pick up where they left off with confidence.
It has been a busy term already and, as I write, we are coming to the end of a successful Open Day where we welcomed visitors and prospective pupils from across the year groups. We have already held two parent information evenings for parents of those in the Senior School which I hope you found useful. I am pleased that members of the Senior Team will be meeting with our Year 11 pupils in the coming weeks to explore their plans for Sixth Form and beyond. We are delighted also that our boarding community has finally come back together and Archers Lodge has its family feel back once more.
Whilst we, of course, are following closely our health and safety measures and risk assessments – we are certainly starting to look ‘normal’ in terms of day to day life at school. I believe this has had a profound impact on the wellbeing of our children and I hope that you would concur. Children seem happy to be in school and I think it would be fair to say that our pupils would not necessarily agree with the sentiments of this child (from another school, I hasten to add):
Teacher: Where are your books?
Pupil: At home, Sir.
Teacher: What are they doing there?
Pupil: Having more fun than me.
I hope you all have a good weekend.
Mr Page, Head of Seniors
Senior Leadership Team Blog Seniors
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