Category: Headmaster’s Notes
Headmaster’s Notes: Counting our blessings
As we complete Week 4 of this Summer Term, there are so many blessings for the Prince’s Mead community to count, although many of these come without any complacency. We are so fortunate that our children are able to spend plenty of time on our fabulous grounds each day. I am sure too that many…
Headmaster’s Notes: The magic of reading
Many of you will share fond memories of your children hanging on to your every word of a bedtime story. If you are not there yet, you can also look forward to the time when your youngsters begin to read and devour fairy tales or adventure stories. I have witnessed children hiding under tables having…
Headmaster’s Notes: A Renaissance in Artisan Skills
As Year 1 demonstrated not so long ago inside their Toy Museum, there is a unique pleasure in nursing the survival of a much-loved gadget or toy. Cherished items were brought in from home, many having belonged to their parents, and these were typically modest — a board game or much-loved teddy bear. What was…
Headmaster’s Notes: Opening Doors of Opportunity
As we turned off our screens last Friday to complete the 3,500 hours of weekly remote learning being delivered across the School during lockdown, we were able to reflect this week upon the spirit of unity, adaptability and achievements shown by pupils, staff and parents, but also a renewed sense of closeness and community. We…
Headmaster’s Notes: The Great Debate
This week we have enjoyed a focus on the importance of public speaking, inspired by Year 3’s competition where all pupils performed exceptionally well. In fact, I was so inspired that I was reminded of Martin Luther King’s speech, ‘I have a Dream’, that was delivered with the same energy and emotion all those years…
Headmaster’s Notes: Perseverance, secret of all triumphs
Not dissimilar to NASA’s extraordinary success in the landing of Perseverance on Mars last week, Britain’s vaccine programme is a triumph of scientific and human endeavour that has offered us all a path to advancement, starting on the 8th March with our most important national business: education in school. I have marvelled at how the Prince’s Mead community has navigated…
Headmaster’s Notes: The pioneer spirit is alive and well
Independent schools have long enjoyed being pioneers in the creation of collaborative models for education and Prince’s Mead is no exception. Time and time again we have shown ourselves able to adapt and diversify quickly and successfully. More than 600 years after it was founded by William of Wykeham, Britain’s oldest public school, and one…
Headmaster’s Notes: Tomorrow will be a good day
Joining in the doorstep applause in Winchester and across the country on Tuesday, or simply pausing for quiet reflection this week, we honoured Captain Sir Tom Moore and his extraordinary efforts in raising millions for the NHS and, perhaps more importantly, the inspiration he gave us all during this time of historic adversity. Such was…
Headmaster’s Notes: Shouting from the Rooftops!
The Prime Minister’s hopes that children could return from Monday 8th March gave us all some welcome clarity and optimism this week, albeit many of us had anticipated this date would have been sooner. I am aware that this lockdown is proving much tougher for families and teachers, coming as it does in the middle…
Headmaster’s Notes: Nothing can Substitute Experience
Recalling my experience on operations twenty years ago, many of the soldiers in my charge spent many months in an unfamiliar, dangerous, and highly complex landscape facing threats and confronting their fears in ways they had not navigated before. Rigorous training had helped, but nothing could prepare them for the reality. Recalling subsequent operations, one…
