Thursday had me thinking about ‘perspectives’. I started the day teaching one of my favourite General Studies lessons to Year 5. It involves a series of thinking exercises and discussion pieces that help the boys to understand that what we believe something to be – its name, its use, its purpose – is entirely informed from our perspective. By the end of the lesson, the aim is to have reached a point where, through the connected scenarios discussed, the boys can talk about and understand how this perspective is determined. They can see how our upbringing, our culture, our experience and our received knowledge contribute. Peeling this back by being taken on a journey that compels us to look at the familiar afresh – that is, from a different perspective – is a hugely important exercise. Having the opportunity to help a pupil understand they can’t in this instance say a class mate is ‘wrong’, just that they disagree with their opinion (which comes from their perspective), is important. It is Route A towards trying to develop young men who have emotional intelligence, tact and the ability to persuade rather than insist. 

Three hours later, and it was my own perspective that had shifted. I found myself on the 56th floor of 22 Bishopsgate, in The City, in support of the Quiristers giving a performance in this extraordinary space. From such a height, the profound shift in the perspective on London via the most incredible 360° views was incredible. Truism though it may be, watching the world from above, the ‘human ants’ below skittling through their days, was a real cause for reflection on the purpose and impact of so much endeavour. It was a rare opportunity to take a step back – or rather up – and consider these bigger things in life.  

The occasion at hand – fittingly – provided an immediate insight. Both at this venue and at a longer concert around the corner at St Michael’s Church, Cornhill, two hours later, the Quiristers were performing alongside the Winchester College Chamber Orchestra and the choir of St John the Divine Church, Kennington. The latter is a choir based in an area of London restricted in terms of access to the arts for young people. It has for a decade sought to actively engage children in its singing programme. On a full Sunday, up to 80 of their children sing repertoire which is often of the traditional choral variety, coming from a hugely diverse range of backgrounds. Seeing singing and music making bringing the entire collective of children in those performances together was simply fantastic: a focus point of shared experience and endeavour uniting them. 

Then after the concert, I had the pleasure of hosting some alumni Pilgrims. Some 15 or so had managed to find the chance to come and join together following a recent invite; perhaps unsurprisingly to start with, many of them from my immediate generation. It was a wonderful chance to share perspectives from our time at Pilgrims’, reminisce, catch up… the usual sort of thing one would expect. This small gathering was a reminder of the bonds of shared experience, even some 40 or more years further along life’s journey, and of how much value lies in what the School has provided for its boys over the decades, as now. Many were absolutely clear and passionate about how their time here had fundamentally determined some amazing life opportunities and careers. Over time, I’m incredibly keen to grow the alumni programme further and build those links with our past and with those who look back, as I do, with pride at having been a Pilgrim.  

Tim Butcher
Headmaster