Many of you will have noticed that we’re taking what we hope is a more engaging approach to our social media of late. (And for this I must extend huge thanks to Mrs Short and Mr Reynolds who have been instrumental in this.)
It seems that there is an annual ‘day’ to mark pretty much everything. One of the several frustrating effects of this phenomenon is that it creates a type of ‘mental wallpaper’: there are so many of them that they fade into the background in one’s mind.
There has been a crisper bite in the air these last 48 hours, and those of us around Winchester have just witnessed the city Christmas lights come on yesterday evening (and very well done to the Chamber Choir, who put on a fantastic performance at the event!)… but before our minds turn too decidedly towards the festive season, it’s worth us reflecting on two consecutive events in the last week that are always highlights in the Pilgrims’ calendar; or in the case of one, high lights in the Pilgrims’ calendar.
It had been rather a while since I’d managed to do something truly ‘cultural’, and inordinately longer since I’d been to Paris. However, on a long weekend in half term, whilst hopping between a number of venues in the city, I found myself at the Musée d’Orsay.
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This week has seen A Tale of Two Kitties continuing. It has been the best of times, it has been the worst of times. (Actually, it hasn’t been the worst of times: that was simply a cheap excuse to get the reference in.)
There is something very special about our oldest friendships.
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This week, I’ve been having kittens. Not metaphorically, you understand, but literally.
In re-writing the essence of this week’s assembly, I thought, as a history teacher, I would start off above by having a bit of fun deliberately invoking the style of historian Simon Schama:
We began with news that, of the (already impressive) 46 boys who took a LAMDA exam in the Summer Term, over 90% had achieved a Distinction.
There are many things in our lives that are just ‘there’, without necessarily being consciously connected to. Some of them are surprisingly important in how we manage situations and in decisions we make. For many, personal values can fall into this category of being crucial but potentially unexamined, (particularly if having a faith is not at play). And the same can be true of wider communities and organisations and their shared values. Yet, when other factors are stripped away, our values are what we hold at our core and what we fall back on when some direction or steerage is required.
Ahh, school photograph day.
Perhaps the defining feature of this time of year is the spirit of celebration that abounds. We celebrate the end of exams, we celebrate numerous personal achievements, and we celebrate the upcoming end of term and the prospect of an enormously well-deserved summer break for all the community to enjoy time with their families.
