Our first week of warmer weather and following it the storms arrived. The Year 6 pupils have been to visit the Senior School and Year 11s have morphed into Sixth Formers for the next two weeks. The School bees are roaming far and wide as if making up for lost time during our dismal May. It is perhaps one of the first weeks in which things have almost felt normal. We are doing the things that we do each year, and this is positive indeed. Next week the Nursery class will come to the Senior School to learn about Mrs. Cosyn’s dog Cleo. Familiarity is re-establishing itself. At the end of the week we have had some officially permitted mask free outdoor play thanks to the slight relaxation of rules.
Some elements of this scene are not quite back to normal. Senior School departments have been busily gathering evidence for the exam boards to use in the award of grades later in the summer, we are still temperature testing and there remains a nagging feeling that just one case will result in a year group staying at home. Now is not the time to simply assume that we are beyond risk, care is still required.
Something to look forward to is the opening of our new outdoor performance space. Not the snappiest of titles but in the spirit of “what it does on the tin” it will have to do until we have an official naming of the space. If you would like to have a view of this new addition to our suite of facilities, then please enjoy Mr. Porter’s exciting drone footage.
Learning out of doors is undergoing something of a renaissance. I’m sure that what has been done to this previously underused area of the school will become a place that figures large in the memories of pupils long after they have left the school. It will be a place that is used for quiet thought during the bustle of the school day, it could be the venue for a first musical performance or perhaps it will be a place where dramatic skills are given space to take flight. I can certainly see it become a place for debate and mock elections, who knows orators may hone their skills in this space.
Perhaps the most important comment to make about this new development is that the initial design was devised by our own Design & Technology students who pitched their plans to the Governors’ Campus Development Committee. It was constructed in part using recycled stone from our campus by our maintenance team and whatever happens there in the future it will be the product of pupil endeavour. It was funded by donations made by parents, former pupils and friends of the school. From start to continued use it is a BSP production that will be enjoyed for years to come. A great community effort. One more stage in the return to normality.
Nicholas Hammond
Headmaster
