CCCS celebrates World Book Day
World Book Day is one of my favourite occasions. Pupils you know so well seem not to turn up that day while there is a stampede of characters from books, dressed in their clothing, many clutching wands and staffs. I arrived, dressed this year, as Dumbledore! “Oh look,” said one boy as he approached the school, “it’s Father Christmas.” I spent the rest of the day trying to ensure that everyone knew who I was and, indeed, I found myself getting carried away. I was using a perfectly sized stick as my elderwand and was attempting to bring about magical transformations by brandishing this twig. One of the many Harry Potters who had decided to attend our school, said, as he flourished his plastic wand in front of me, “Well yours is not a wand, it’s a stick - unlike mine!”
I did some research and was able to produce some of Dumbledore’s well-known phrases, some of which are happily appropriate for a school, for instance, “Silence!” and, at lunch time, “Let the feast begin!” Indeed I loved spending my day at Hogwarts! But ultimately, I have to admit that it is CCCS that is the greater school and it was a parent who drew my attention to this by informing me of her favourite Dumbledore phrase: “Music – a magic far greater than anything we do at Hogwarts” and of course at CCCS we have so much experience of music, of this magic superior to anything found at that other, in many other ways, more exotic scholastic location.
My great good fortune in working at CCCS was also brought home to me at Pre-Prep assembly this morning. I always present the special awards which pupils gain. The citation this morning was for “dedication to the art of happiness and positivity.” I was delighted that someone was being awarded for these qualities, but I thought it told us a lot about the school that being happy and positive was considered to be an art i.e. something that required skill, hard work and care to achieve. Indeed such attitudes are generally the result of careful thought and I can think of few more wonderful citations. The pupils were also telling us about the things they had enjoyed most about the day. I was thrilled to hear that several people responded “Everything!” (these pupils too seem to have mastered the art of happiness and positivity) but one person wanted to take it even further – “Everything plus 100!” I couldn’t put it better myself!
I was also told about the Pre-Prep trip to the Woodland School, a trip which must have been rendered even more colourful by the fact that the adventurers had gone out with their World Book Day costumes. They had also taken the books in which they appeared and had spent some time reading their books in the wood. Mr Robards had coined a special tone for this activity: “wild reading!” This concept particularly appealed to me. It explains very well the concept of someone reading a book in a wild place – I intend to read while up a tree over the weekend – the more places you can read, the better as far as I am concerned; but I also love the idea of reading wildly – a fully engaged brain might well take on a wild quality! Indeed there are books themselves which are fairly wild, as any of you who have recently read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte might have discovered. Few recent films have caused more people to revisit a classic novel than the latest cinematic epic! While thinking about wild reading I glanced again at my old copy of the novel. Catherine when in low spirits, writes words which chime with me:
“I wish I were young again, half savage and hardy, and free… Why am I so changed? I’m sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those hills.”
but I thought a more appropriate line for a school of predominately boys was Heathcliff’s splendid utterance “I shall be as dirty as I please, and I like to be dirty, and I will be dirty!” Given all these trips to the woodland school to do some wild reading, perhaps your sons and daughters will require a good bath. Thinking about it, baths are another good place to read!
