Exciting times
From the Headmaster’s Desk: 19th May 2023
Mr Hammond
Headmaster
We have had unprecedented times. We are now in exciting times.
The School Fayre last Saturday was a roaring success. A wonderful occasion to celebrate as a whole school community, the range of activity was amazing – games, a raffle, cakes, a book tall and a pizza van; what more could one want? Thank you so much to all of our families that contributed to the organisation of the event and all of the APA, who were very much a driving force behind the day.
It has been a rather busy week at Abercorn (they all should be). Not only did both the Lower and Senior School host a Discover Morning, welcoming prospective parents, but we also hosted our Senior School Open House with over 200 attendees. Staff, parents and guests all came together to celebrate our strategic combination of all pupils in Years 3 and above into our new premises on Paddington Street and the expansion to GCSEs. Although we are very proud of our marvellous new site, the stars of the show were (rightly) the children: they treated us to live music throughout the evening, performed pieces of drama, with our Head Boy and Girl fulfilling the roles of key note speaker and MC respectively. Bravo all round.
At Abercorn, we believe in investing children with trust and responsibility – all children in Year 6 and above had the opportunity to take small groups of guests on tours of the building, with praise being universally positive for their endeavours. One parent emailed me after the event to say: We were absolutely impressed how confident and proud kids are to talk about the school and classes. Thank you to all staff for their work before, during and after the event and for all our families for your support of the event as we look to further develop our wonderful school.
Talking of developing schools, I felt privileged to attend the Independent Schools Association’s annual Head’s Conference at the end of this week, in my role as Headmaster but also trustee of the charity. A chance to share best practice between schools to further develop Abercorn, important regulatory updates are always a key part of large-scale meetings of Heads. However, I always find the most valuable messages to be those that espouse the value of childhood, to let children be young. What else are schools here for, if it is not to value our pupils? The wellbeing of all young people is also key; a message that shone through in the seminars. As I always say, if children are happy, the rest will fall into place.
I was inspired by our pupils this week. As I watched them speak to parents about their enjoyment of Senior School, I was impressed by their overcoming the personal challenge of nerves to find remarkable success. In the same spirit, it came to mind that adults do not always challenge themselves. In an attempt to lead by example, I therefore decided to run up Beachy Head on Thursday (a 160 metre incline from the beach). As with any major strategic change, there were challenges on my route, but the reward was worth it!
For more inspiration, I close with the fourth in our series about Senior School. Over to the latest member of Year 4:
Hello my name is Hina. Today I am talking about what I like about the Senior School.
First, I like the playground because there are so many things to play with. I like it when different year groups come to the park together. Also you don’t need to take a bus to go to the playground. It’s right next to us!
Next, I love the theatre because we get to sit on comfortable seats with armrests. The stage is huge! It is really amazing for acting and playing games in drama lessons.
Also, I love the music room. There is more space and l like playing the clarinet there. I like the displays in the music room too. The displays are colourful and it is very helpful to understand the pitch and dynamics of songs.
Finally, the art room is fantastic! There are 3D printers! I have never used 3D printer so I want to use it in some Art lessons.
Thank you for reading about things I like about the senior school!
All the best for the weekend! Mr Hammond
To see how busy a place our wonderful School is and for a more detailed look into all things Abercorn, follow us on social media; Twitter, Instagram and Facebook offer a wide range of updates. My personal thoughts on educational life can be found @hammondteacher.
