Dear Parents
As I write, there is the background noise of cricket bags being rolled past, always a sound to celebrate summer. And tomorrow there is our annual Athletics Championships, so a late day for everyone – although every boy will participate in at least one event. It promises to be a great mixture of fun and competition.
MANNERS
Every year we work on the manners of our boys, as they do at Pre-Prep and at College and as I am sure you do at home. It really is a long term plan and we have to start as early as possible, going right through the teenage years and even into early adulthood. Good manners do impress, but this cannot just be a surface, rote, drill-type action. We know what that looks like. Manners are based on respect for and acknowledgement of others, children to each other as well as for adults and, of course, for us, adult to adult.
Our approach is that greeting is a form of welcome and acknowledgement for another. No-one is invisible, we are all worthy of respect.
Offering to help a visitor or assisting someone with a heavy load shows our wish to help anyone in case of need.
Boys standing up and greeting when an adult arrives or enters a room shows respect for the adult. Within the school context teachers, indeed all staff, are addressed by their title and surname or “sir” or “ma’am”. Many find the latter quite charming, sort of old speak, but it really shows deference, young to old, respect for others and the seeing of others for who they are and their role.
It was very heartwarming to see a couple of our Prep boys at a shop close by a few days ago and their interaction with the shop assistant. They greeted her, “Hello ma’am” with a smile, “Could I have …..…” and when receiving the goods, looked at her, smiled and said, ‘Thank you, ma’am”. They did not notice me until afterwards. They will definitely receive mitre badges, both as an acknowledgement for their behaviour and as an example to others.
Seeing actions such as these are always gratifying for a parent or teacher, but I was also struck by the quiet confidence it gave the boys. Training boys in good manners also gives them confidence. In being expected to greet and be polite, they had the tools to engage with an adult in a particular context in both an appropriate and enriching way for them and the shop assistant in this case.
Let’s continue to work on this together. Expect your children at home to greet visitors, stand to welcome adults, make others feel welcome. It comes very easily to some but more slowly to others, but it does instil a respectful nature and develop positive social skills.
It is a job for every day. Boys forget and have off days, so it is a constant education and, of course, we have to model this for them.
Kind regards
GREG BROWN
HEADMASTER |
