Category: Head’s Blog

15th November 19

It isn’t fair to blame our political class for everything. They can’t really be held responsible for the floods around Doncaster. And in my view it would be as churlish to lay at their door the poverty of terrestrial television, as it would be to criticise them for the protracted boxed set of Brexit. This…

8th November 19

This week saw the whole School community remember the men and women who have given their lives in conflict. I was honoured to lead Pre-Prep in their Remembrance Service and was struck by  the bright attentiveness of the children during the assembly.  It still astonishes me that the number of military and civilian casualties in…

18th October 19

Sometimes we get a stark reminder of how important it is that we look after our countryside. And how fortunate we are to live in this ‘green and pleasant land’. We take for granted that the supermarket shelves are full  – and we are made painfully aware that this is not the same the world…

11th October 19

It’s a remarkable phenomenon, the growth of the Literature Festival in this country. What a proliferation there has been! You are never more than 50 miles away from a town or city which attracts writers, many of whom want to sell their books. One that is just down the motorway from us is the Cheltenham…

4th October 19

A  crossword clue for you, from last weekend’s paper. Five letters starting with ‘L’. ‘What is the name for an aquatic or terrestrial annelid worm with suckers at both ends?’ The answer of course was “leech’. And, children, you may not know that these devilish creatures were applied to the body up until the end…

27th September 19

It’s been another extraordinary week on the international front, has it not? Scores of thousands of British people – and Boris Johnson – have been left feeling stranded, hoping that someone, somehow, will come to rescue them. Oh, Boris. You remember him marooned on that zipwire in London’s Victoria Park some years back, acting the giddy…

20th September 19

Today, millions of people across the world will join global demonstrations demanding action on climate change. Young people and adults have been encouraged – and inspired – to strike, to protest against inactivity on global warming. What has this to do with Blue Coat School, you might well ask.  Well, apart from the fact that it…

13th September 19

Although Health and Safety improvements in this country have been one of the (many/myriad/several/few) benefits of our union with Europe, it is impossible to completely eliminate risk. In Paris, Notre Dame stands charred, and in New York, the scar of Ground Zero marks the site of the twin towers in all of our minds. Amazingly, it…

6th September 19

Of all the virtues, reliability is one which I feel  is often underestimated. Two things were certain in Manchester this week, and one in Westminster.  Australian run-machine Steve Smith would churn out yet another century in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, where It would also rain. And chaos would continue to reign as far…

12th July 19

Earlier this year, Year 5 found themselves faced with a pile of sticks. They had not to build a fire, as they were later to do at Bushcraft, but to construct something altogether more significant. The children were challenged to explore what structures they could build – using just that collection of  sticks, and a…