Headmaster’s Roundup 11 February

It is hard to believe that we are already half way through the academic year. It particularly strikes me when I look at our Year 6 cohort who are therefore half way through their final year at the school – the rapid passage of time never ceases to surprise me. Thinking about this earlier in the week it reminded me of a reflection which I shared with parents several years ago and I include it here below because it is a timely reminder, before the half term break, to make the most of every minute with our children because they do grow up so quickly.

The last week has been a lot of fun with children across the School celebrating Chinese New Year including a Chinese food tasting experience. We were grateful to Mrs Lai, one of our Chinese mums, who visited Green Shoots and Kindergarten to talk to them about Chinese New Year.

Also in the last week Year 4 visited the Cranston Library at St Mary’s Church to see their hand written, leather bound books which date back some 500 years and we enjoyed our Grandparents Day in the Early Years which was very well attended.

I hope that you were all able to engage with the Safer Internet Day and found the information that Mrs Trundle sent out useful and easy to follow. Do take a look if you haven’t already done so. There is relevant information on the Cyber Safety page of the website too.

We are proud of all of those who competed in the Downsend IAPS Swimming Gala last Friday with some impressive performances. Full details and results will be in the Sports Bulletin tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be wishing Miss White a happy maternity leave as she is expecting her second child, a little boy, in the next few weeks. We are delighted that Mrs Saskia Wright will be taking on Miss White’s Art teaching responsibilities and will also be overseeing the Art Department in Miss White’s absence. As mentioned two weeks back, Mrs Walters will be taking over responsibility for 5W. We also wish one of our RSM chefs, Vicki Knowles, a happy maternity leave as she is expecting her first child shortly and goes on maternity leave tomorrow.

I was very proud of our U8A Netball team who won their second match of the season against arch rivals Caterham – they show a lot of potential. Well done girls!

With ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat’ just 5 weeks away I am getting very excited. Rehearsals are in full swing and the children are loving it.

I wish you all a very enjoyable half term break and let’s hope spring starts to arrive in the latter half of this ‘Spring term’!

A Reflection on Parenthood

I expect that the number 6,570 doesn’t strike any particular chord with you, but it should because it is the number of days that we have with our children between the day they are born and their eighteenth birthday when they reach the world of adulthood and become independent. In reality, the age at which teenagers decide that they are quite old enough to no longer need our intervention in life, (except as a taxi and laundry service), comes far sooner. It is therefore good to remind ourselves that by the age of ten, 3,650 of these 6,570 days have already passed and only 2,920 remain.

I say this not to sadden you, but as a challenge never to take each day with our children for granted, but instead to value each one and try to make it special in some way. Make it special by letting our children know that they are special. Find little ways to let them know that we love them. To stop what we are doing and listen to them, even though we are busy. To look them in the eyes when they talk to us, find ways to make them laugh and laugh with them, and sometimes just ‘chill out’ a bit. It has been said that ‘the door of childhood closes so fast and so finally – try not to miss out on a single day’. I would endorse that statement because there are only so many days to fly a kite, teach them to ride a bicycle and watch their sports games. When those days are gone they are gone forever. Savour each moment and try not to be too busy to enjoy your greatest assets.

Marcus Culverwell