I had a very enjoyable visit to the Woodland School this week. The Pre-Prep pupils had invited me to come over and share the delights of one of their expeditions to this world of adventure. I was conducted through the Woodland paths to all manner of residences. Propped up against a tree was a carefully constructed and bountifully kitted out bug hotel complete with reception, bedrooms and lounges. Elsewhere was a neat and tidy pair of hedgehog houses with comfortable bedding and space to relax. Attached to trees were bird boxes, and, at their foot, mounds of luxurious rotting wood for termites and other such creatures. Even more exciting were the dens that had been constructed to house the pupils themselves, who were, as I proceeded round the wood, running in and out of them like wasps in a nest. One of my favourite places was the fire pit where I found some of the pupils roasting marshmallows. Once these confections had begun to melt, they were removed from the furnace and placed between chocolate digestive biscuits. I was intrigued to sample one of these delicacies and have rarely had such an intense sugar rush. Having said this, the injection of energy which this process induced, allowed me to match the general level of excitement which I found! Over the past few months the Woodland School has been completely transformed with the help of The admirable Christ Church gardening Team. It really now is a magical place.

This team is headed up by the admirable Steve Howe who took time out of his extraordinarily busy schedule to give a group of parents from the School a tour of all the Christ Church Gardens. The tour started in Tom Quad. Steve pointed out some small lavender bushes which he had planted around the edge of the quad. Their small size belied their extraordinary importance. As far as I understand it, these are the first plants that have been grown in Tom Quad in its 500 year existence. The tradition has always been that the quad should retain its austerity but Steve has managed to convince the Christ Church Governing Body to allow these small plants into the quad. For that alone he has made the earth quake!

Another innovation has been to return the round garden at the entrance to the Meadow to roses for the first time in a while. There are now some very fine examples of that most lovely of plants. These are already flourishing. Steve told me that he had discovered that when the school was located in the buildings in the Memorial Garden during the latter half of the 19th century, the Rose Garden was the School’s playground. I suspect it is, aesthetically at least, a rather more pleasant area now than it was then! We are so lucky as a School to have such privileged access to so many remarkable places.

This morning we had our confirmation service where two of our boys were confirmed in the presence of the School. Bishop David Jennings who has conducted our confirmation services for a number of years, and is an old friend of the School, allowed the confirmation candidates to sprinkle their peers with holy water. This they did with great liberality and I had what amounted to a shower. Given that the water had been blessed I must now be in very good spiritual health.

One of the delights of being on Brewer Street in the morning recently has been the communal arrival of a group a pre-prep pupils who seem to arrive at about the same time. The moment one of the members of the clan is seen at the end of the Street, a great shout of welcome occurs and the new arrival is added to the fold. The greetings take on many forms; this morning one of the girls was hugged and then lifted off the ground. There is then usually a race to see who can get into the School fastest. The boy on the scooter shoots ahead but then loses his ground as he has to park his vehicle while those on foot speed on. So often we return to the great Bard of Avon, Shakespeare, for words of truth and inspiration but Brewer Street rather belies his rather miserable description of the School child from As You Like It “then the whining School boy, with his satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to School.” Clearly Shakespeare had never visited Brewer Street.