Dear Parents
Yesterday the Principal and I were invited to join a Grade 2 Gentlemen’s tea, a tea for the 21 boys in the grade who had received the highest number of awards for good manners, exhibiting respect for each other and adults, as well as helpfulness. The tea was reasonably formal and attractively laid out, with the boys seated down one long table. This meant that they had to ask each other to pass the plate of sandwiches down, for instance, one example which naturally occasioned “please” and “thank you”.
What was most striking was their level of engagement. They chatted away with me and their peers quite animatedly, giving each other a turn and waiting for the other speaker to finish. Subjects ranged from their families to their favourite sports, the opening of the upcoming Soccer World Cup, breakfast, even news channels. It made me think about how often we can under-estimate young people, and how capable they can be of engaging in interesting conversation. In our busy lives it is so easy to be eating on the run, in front of the TV and at different times from each other, all to fit in with our busy work and social schedules. Hopefully you can make times when you do sit down as a family, without the distractions of TV and other mobile devices, and just talk. It’s a good idea to ask each other, “what was the highlight of your day?”, “what happened that was special?”, “was there anything that you wish you had done differently?”, and so on.
Again I was reminded, while spending time with these boys at tea, of how fortunate we are as teachers to enjoy the enthusiasm and potential of our young people on a daily basis.
I told the boys about this tea at assembly today, explaining what our real capabilities are. We also discussed ending the year well in terms of appropriate behaviour, consideration for each other and staying within the rules, such as uniform, appropriate haircuts, etc.
As we move towards the end of the academic year, please ensure that your son is at school every day – there are a number of fun, interesting and enriching events, presentations and outings in the last two weeks. Please also support the school by making sure that your son’s hair is properly cut; if it is getting long now, it will not make the end of term.
Enjoy the weekend.
Kind regards
GREG BROWN
HEADMASTER |
