Category Archives: Headmaster’s Assembly

Life skills I hope my children have… Today’s address was inspired by two things – firstly a video I watch from time to time of a 30 year old rapper and performance artist known as Prince EA in which he takes on traditional education and education systems and secondly the stage I am in my […]

Opportunity As many of you know, I enjoy my golf. For me, apart from playing the game, watching golf tournaments is one of my great joys. Two tournaments in particular – the British Open and the Masters. It just so happens that the Masters started yesterday. I was preparing for assembly with a blank screen […]

Many steps forward At the last assembly of last term I spoke of a difficult choice that would face the vast majority of us at some stage in our lives. That choice that we make when we encounter bullying or abuse of someone else and we are the bystanders, the witnesses. I encouraged you to […]

Earlier this month I received a letter from a boy. In the letter, the writer asked me why we spend so much time talking about bullying yet always talk about bullying from the bully’s or the victim’s perspective. We give advice on how to react to bullying and encourage people not to be bullies themselves. What we don’t do though, is spend enough time talking about witnesses to bullying and that is what the writer was wanting help with. Simply put – if we are ourselves witnesses or bystanders to bullying or behaviour that hurts someone else, what do we do? Or put another way, when is “fun” and “teasing” not so much fun anymore and what do we do?

What are you most scared of? Spiders? Snakes? Heights? Ghosts? Closed spaces? The dark?
Very few people are not scared of anything yet when it comes to something I wish to share with you now it terrifies them. The thing I want to talk about today is not an object – it is a feeling.

There is value in boredom Last year I saw a friend of mine at a coffee shop, on his own, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out onto the world. He had nothing else except a cappuccino in his hand. As I was walking past and didn’t have time to greet him, I sent […]

Good Men and a shaving company I am often asked what it is we are trying to achieve at Boys High – what our main purpose is. The answer to that is so broad which is in itself indicative of what we are trying to do – no one specific thing but many things. If […]

Identity and Tribalism The word “identity” means an affiliation, a connection, a sense of being who you are. The word “tribalism” means the behaviour and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one’s own tribe or social group. A “tribe” is simply a group of people connected by blood or circumstance and today I refer […]

World Class and 21st Century School Systems and skills I am busy reading a book called “World Class” which is an analysis and discussion from one of the chief instigators of PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), the tests that many countries around the world do to measure themselves as education systems relative to each […]

Healing… Our brains are a bit like computer hard drives and storage discs. Everything we see, hear, experience and do is wired into our short-term or long-term memory. These memories stay there but some get reduced or lost over time while some remain fresh and vivid in our recollection all the time. It is interesting […]