“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions not the years’ ” Henry Moore
In some places plates are smashed, elsewhere it is all about wearing the correct colour of underwear and in one Peruvian village there are ceremonial fights. Suffice to say there are many different ways of celebrating the coming of a New Year. Traditionally it is a time for making new resolutions or undertaking new projects, I’m sure that all in our community have adopted new resolutions. But what of the school? What should we be resolving to do, what will we seek to improve? What have we to look forward to? As a community of educators we set ourselves an ambitious target, to meet the needs of all the young people in our care. We aren’t the parents but we acknowledge that we have a significant role in the development, both intellectual and social, of our students. We have to support and challenge, we need to be ready to impose discipline and support in appropriate measures. Lots of one and hopefully little of the other. We aim to make the learning that occurs here a source of enjoyment; we try to celebrate success as often as we can. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with some Year 10 achievers earlier this week.
A New Year also provides us with a fine opportunity to consider what we can look forward to. Before we know where we are it will be the fantastic BSPS Burns Supper, in February we have the Senior School production and March heralds Around the World Day. With the coming of spring and with it April the temperature warms and the Junior School will benefit from its new air conditioning system, we will find ourselves in the season of Spring Concerts and Geography walks! May brings both public holidays and the anticipation of Duke of Edinburgh adventures and LAMDA performances. By the time June is upon us we are well into the season of public exams and expeditions then the summer holidays beckon. By September we will be benefitting from our new multi-purpose hall on the Senior School site. We have much to look forward to!
Along the way there will be a few challenges and many more successes, in that respect 2018 will be just another year, but we won’t forget that every year in the life of a young person is a vital building block of their character. We are as adults privileged to be part of this moulding process be we parents or educators.
Nicholas Hammond
Headmaster