Sharing ideas, sharing thoughts and sharing feelings are learning behaviours that we are always mindful of weaving into lessons here. This week I have been making a point of “nonchalantly” wafting about at morning break and lunch time and “spontaneously” engaging boys in the Prep about their learning. I make sure we talk not just about what they have done in lessons, but what they have learnt. Once they have shared that with me, I also try to get them to tell me how that made them feel. Pupils reflecting upon their emotional response to lesson content alongside sharing aloud new knowledge is, I believe, likely to result in the greatest chance of them being able to commit all that to their long-term memories. This is arguably what learning is all about.
This will be the last Bulletin written by me this half term, as next Friday there shall be another Headmaster in place! A very nice, new young Headmaster by the name of Mr Wiggins (currently a Year 4 pupil in our school) will be ‘Headmaster for the Day’, having won the opportunity via the Parents’ Association Silent Auction at the end of last term. I am confident Mr Wiggins will do an excellent job. Amongst other things, he shall introduce assembly, he shall award some certificates of merit to the teachers, he shall present the cup at the end of the cross country but I believe it is his special ‘Headmaster’s Lunch’ (with invited guests) that he is looking forward to the most! Rest assured, normal (old!) Headmasterly duties resume after the half term break.