Category: Head’s Blog

Headmaster’s Update

9th October 20

Irreverent we might be in this country, but the ingenuity of our humour is never in doubt. ‘TANGO MAN’S GONE MAD’ screamed the headline on the front page of a ‘Red Top’ on Wednesday. And after the antics we have seen from a slightly-less-orange-than-usual Donald Trump between White House and Walter Reed in recent days,…

Headmaster’s Update

2nd October 20

One of the most civilising and stimulating intellectual exercises of all – and this goes right back to historical times – has been the process of debate. The Greeks in their Golden Age did it. The Romans debated in their forums. The process and the cerebral battle represented a nobility of the nous; a battle…

Headmaster’s Update

25th September 20

This week’s New Statesman carried an interesting article on the artist Michael Andrews. Less well known than Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon, he was nevertheless, apparently, a fellow luminary of the London School. A shy and retiring man, Andrews was evidently as self conscious in his manner as he was painstaking in his production.“To be…

Headmaster’s Update

18th September 20

It’s extraordinary, is it not, how we are constantly bombarded by statistics. And how large some of those figures are. Last week, beleaguered Health Minister Matt Hancock claimed that 90% of people travel less than 22 miles for a Covid test. Which meant, of course, that 10% travelled further. Because in the previous week, 199,000…

Headmaster’s Update

11th September 20

To quote the words that Shakespeare put into the mouth of that ‘noble’ fellow Falstaff: ‘The better part of valour is discretion; in which, the better part I have saved my life.’ We will do well to follow the example of Prince Hal’s portly friend – especially now, as things move a little closer to…

Headmaster’s Update

10th July 20

The Blue Coat School is proud of being what is known as a ‘traditional but forward thinking school’. But it is equally proud of being adaptable. This past six months has tested to the limit our powers of flexibility. As we conclude this academic year, I must commend all the staff and children for their…

Headmaster’s Update

3rd July 20

During the last two weeks we have celebrated the sensational efforts made by Year 6 for our annual Science Fair. The work showed a great level of maturity and curiosity. Having put their hearts and souls into these projects, all the children should be commended. This week we also received the wonderful news that Blue…

Headmaster’s Update

26th June 20

At a time when we marvel at the virtuosity of playwright and author Alan Bennett, while we titter at the linguistic limitations of the Talking Head who purports to be Leader of the Free World, and we rejoice in a downturn in the virus, it’s time for some really good news. The sale of books…

Headmaster’s Update

19th June 20

In the early 1960’s – way before my time and even the concept of colour television – a TV programme suddenly became ‘all the rage’. It was called ‘That Was The Week That Was’. (My dad loved it and had me in stitches reminiscing about TW3 this week!) The programme was made up of a…

Headmaster’s Update

12th June 20

Like me, many parents will remember a time when talk of a ‘global pandemic’ was the pastime of eccentric academics and scientists who had an appetite for the sensational and the self-indulgent. That was in a bygone age when ‘distance learning’ implied a day trip to the sights of London, or, if you were really…