Category: Head’s Blog

14th July 21

Honoured Guest, Chair of Governors, Governors, Ladies and Gentlemen and every member of The Blue Coat community. A very warm welcome this evening to our annual celebration of the academic year just finishing; a time both to reflect and to look ahead.  This is a day of firsts and lasts. It is one of the…

9th July 21

Well the penultimate week of term was one to remember. What a joy it was to welcome back parents for our Sports Days – in Year Group bubbles. And the children had a great time competing in a wide range of disciplines. How wonderful to see everybody smiling and having fun. Perhaps, as adults, we get…

2nd July 21

Hoping for the best and fearing the worst, most of us, I imagine, have been dreaming of sandy beaches, sunny days and the joy of our upcoming summer holiday… Well, this week, we had a sneak preview, courtesy of our budding thespians. Drama was the chief focus for the Prep, and the children certainly put…

25th June 21

Desmond Morris is perhaps best known for his 1967 book The Naked Ape, and for his television programmes such as Zoo Time. Morris, now in his nineties, is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is perhaps less well known for writing a compelling book,…

18th June 21

Once upon a time, many years ago, while studying the ancient Greeks, I was instructed on the difference between the Stoics and the Epicureans. There are varieties of the two, and I am going to simplify the difference when I write that Epicureans insisted that human beings, ever since we are infants, naturally avoid pain…

11th June 21

I gather that four-time champion Mo Farah has a fortnight or so to find a race in which to run the Olympic standard for the 10,000 metres. Just to be selected for the British team for Tokyo. Arguably our greatest-ever Olympic athlete, Farah is under pressure such as he might not have felt during his 38…

28th May 21

As I write, the debate simmers: should schools be preparing to offer more classroom time as compensation for time lost during the COVID lockdowns? The government is reportedly set to provide £200m to secondary schools to fund summer classes for ‘pupils who need it most’. There is, of course, a delicate balance to be struck…

21st May 21

Lunching at The Golden Table and moving purposefully around the site, so many children have told me how delighted they are to be back in the classroom. This is not only, I dare say, because the girls and boys enjoy their teachers so much. It is also, I have no doubt, because learning together with friends…

14th May 21

None of us are perfect. But we can work on our limitations by being open to new ideas, advice, and criticism – without reducing our self-esteem. The ability to do this builds up in us a huge reservoir of inner strength. And perhaps the most powerful example of this is the life of the Indian…

7th May 21

As we end this four day week, and reflect on the excellent efforts of our School community as a whole, we re-enter a world where choice is again available to us. We can choose to go out for a meal, even if we have to sit in the cold, outside; we can choose the venue…