Many parents told me that they had been recommended to come round by friends who already have pupils here. Thank you so much for being so positive about the school. Personal recommendations are, of course, more powerful than the most sophisticated marketing so I am very grateful. I’m also very proud of our boys.

In fact the present Form 8 has stepped into its role as senior pupils with great panache. They have been making an impact throughout the school including on Brewer Street. Every morning, I am surrounded by a group of amiable and entertaining companions. None of them has been asked to come – they have all volunteered to do so - but they have been excellent company and most helpful. We have an expert in cars – both their make and their models – I tend to recognise cars by colour and shape – “ah it’s the grey bubble car”, whereas my far more professional companion will instantly recognise the vehicle in question as a Fiat 500! Another pupil already knows every single name of every pupil, and another knows at what time everyone is likely to arrive. Perhaps MI6, instead of using the dark web to recruit spies, should send scouts down Brewer Street – they’d certainly find young men who paid attention to their surroundings! Having said that our boys would not be good at that crucial characteristic of spies, their ability to blend into the background – they’re far too interesting for that!

Trebetherick, our dog, came in to school for the first time this year. Occasionally he spends the day with me, something he enjoys doing tremendously as, inevitably, he gets a great deal of attention from the pupils. Occasionally one or two pupils are nervous of him, but there is no need – he is very old indeed (16 in fact) he has not much hearing, very little sight and no teeth – indeed one can say with complete authority that his bark is far worse than his bite. When he occasionally does bark, he does so apologetically. If you ever meet him, do please feel free to give him a pat. It makes his day!

It was a bright day and it was entirely appropriate then that the reception I received when I arrived at Pre-Prep assembly should be sunny. During the course of the assembly, I learnt that everyone in Pre-Prep had played a game called Hunter and Survivor. Apparently, despite his overwhelmingly positive character, Mr Berry had been selected as one of the hunters. At the end of the assembly it was my turn to talk. I started to shiver – “I feel terrified!” I said. “Why do you think I’m so frightened?” Of course I wanted to tease Mr Berry by saying that I was terrified of sitting next to a hunter! But the children had other ideas! “You’re terrified, Mr Murray, because you know it's going to snow soon!” I believe the temperature was 25 degrees today so this was, to say the least, a surprising response! “You’re terrified because you’re so amazed at how brilliant we are!” suggested another. I started to mediate upon the connection between amazement and terror, an important theme in some early nineteenth century romantic literature, I remembered. “No! said another. I know why you’re frightened. You’ve seen how brilliant we are and you think we’re going to take over as Headmaster!” Fear was completely the right reaction then!