Start where you are
We are really pleased to ‘see’ pupils back in lessons and have been impressed in the first week by their levels of engagement. The ability now afforded to us by the Teams update to see whole classes on screen and to send pupils into break-out rooms to collaborate makes a substantial difference to the interactive nature and enjoyment of their learning. Such features are an additional support to our teaching, adding further life to the virtual classroom.
We hope that the commitment to a timetable of live lessons gives our pupils a sense of purpose, progress and stability when so much seems uncertain. It is hard to see far into the future currently, and I know it helps me every morning to focus on what there is to achieve and look forward to in the day ahead. Many of us will be accustomed to being far more in control of our lives, yet we have had to learn to walk on shifting sands!
In such a climate we can only ask our children to do their best, day-to-day, in the faith that all those small yet achievable steps will eventually add up to something much bigger.
Some of you will remember Arthur Ashe, the first African American male tennis-player to win Wimbledon (in 1975) and to be ranked No. 1 in the world. He was quite an inspirational figure, whose words and activism extended well beyond sport.
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
provides a simple set of principles which could serve our children (and indeed all of us) well in the days to come.
Best wishes,
John Watson
Headmaster