Half terms are welcome, but as a rule they pass in a flash. I hope that you managed to make the most of the break. We have returned to school and have picked up where we left off having lost no momentum whatsoever. This has been a busy week and it’s a harbinger of what is to come in the coming five weeks of term.
This week has been varied and there has been much to celebrate. We welcomed a film crew in to school and I am very grateful to all who contributed to the filming. Our partners from Feel Good Films have returned to their base and will be busy editing in the coming weeks. It will be good to see the finished article, I’m sure that we will all be proud of how our school looks on screen.
For those who can’t wait to find out what it is like to spend a day at BSP, then I’m pleased to be able to welcome all members of our community (and their friends) to the Junior School on Saturday 11th March for our second Festival of Discovery day. Building on the success of the last Festival, which focused on all things Senior School (see photo), our attention moves to the exciting learning environment of the Junior School. An action-packed morning awaits all who decide to join us. Almost every time I take a prospective parent on a tour of the school they comment that they’d love to go back to school again, well now you can. Please do sign up to learn something new, try something different and find out why learning at the BSP is such fun.
Year 7 had a parents’ evening on Wednesday and in between the useful discussion about progress that were taking place I was asked if we as a school are going to discuss the use of AI and Chat GPT in particular. This week several high-profile universities announced that they were to a greater or lesser extent (mostly lesser) going to allow use of AI software whilst ensuring that students “be the authors of their own work” and that the International Baccalaureate Organisation has decided to allow students to use the software as long as they reference its use as they would any other source. As our public exams are still sat using paper and pen, we do not have to worry overly about the use of artificially generated essays in that context, and I believe that there can be few objections to the use of Chat GTP as an additional source of information. As ever we will challenge plagiarism where it is found, and this is to a very great extent a modern spin on copying someone else’s homework! We will be reminding pupils that they should demonstrate integrity in their academic work as well as they do in all other areas of their life. Achievement without integrity is a hollow excellence indeed.
To round off a varied week the Junior School were reminded of the importance of being resilient in the face of disappointment – I am not sure if Mr. Potter performed his famous Elvis impersonation, but I do know that “The King” was the subject of this important message. It made a change from them turning up in their pyjamas…
Have a splendid weekend.
Nicholas Hammond
Headmaster