SJP6941

From the Headmaster…

Posted: 15th November 2021

Dear Parents,

This week’s Year 4 to 8 assembly focused on Ruth Bader Ginsberg, ‘notorious RBG’, and included a challenge to the girls to be as focused on equality as she was, and the for the boys to recognise the battles and arguments she went through to achieve what she did. I then moved on to explain different ways discrimination and expectation occur today in the western world. My favourite scene in the recent feature film ‘On the basis of sex’ is where she is walking with her daughter, they are wolf whistled by some builders, RBG sticks her nose in the air and keeps walking, and her daughter turns and gives them a piece of her mind. The crowning moment to me is the smile on RBG’s face at the actions of her daughter because she realises that she has brought her up, and helped create a world, where she can fight battles that she could never have fought.

This week has been Remembrance Week and the formality of this week is always striking. Having had a father who was in the military all his career, and relatives who still are, Remembrance Day is something important to me. Over the years I have taken many trips to the battlefields of northern France and Belgium, nothing can prepare you for the horror of Langemark German Cemetery, or the shock created when walking a group of young people through the attack of the Newfoundland Regiment, in July 1916, at Beaumont Hamel. The community of Colchester is shaped by the presence of the military and I know this week is very special to them. Teaching the children why we remember is important. Mrs Bradbury spent some time on Tuesday talking through the role of Commonwealth soldiers in World War Two.

Next week sees three very different things:

  • National anti-bullying week – including discussions in assemblies and tutor/circle time, as well as the pupils in Years 4 to 8 completing our annual survey which helps us get a better picture of how they feel about bullying in school and online. We finish on Friday by supporting Children in Need by asking all staff and pupils to make a donation to wear a wacky hat or headwear. https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/anti-bullying-week/anti-bullying-week-2021-one-kind-word
  • Holmwood’s Shakespeare Week – is focused on answering the question: ‘How is Shakespeare relevant in our modern world? All the children will be involved in a number of activities across the week and throughout a variety of subjects.  There will be a trip for Year 6 to The Globe and all of the children will also have the chance to find posters displayed around school with relevant Shakespeare quotes. The children can enter a competition to find out which play each quote comes from and describe how they think it is still relevant to us today. Follow what we will be doing on our social media accounts.
  • The Autumn Visit from the Bellevue Education directors completing their annual review of compliance including Safeguarding and Health and Safety. They will also be meeting some parents and pupils, and observing lessons.

Thank you for your many words of support this week. It has been great to get out of the house and get around. I think the team is much happier not to have phone calls and emails from me as I work at home!

Have a very good weekend.

Edward Bond
Headmaster

Categories: Headmaster's Blog News


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