Welcoming Mr Quartermain to CCCS
I cannot wait for the poetry recitation competition this time next week. Today I heard the Pre-Prep reciting from memory poems that they had learnt. It was extraordinary to see the way in which people who have only just learnt to read were able to memorise and recite verse. One boy had dressed himself in a head to toe cat suit complete with whiskers. As he recited the poem, he swayed to and fro like the cat he was describing. I was very touched by the way that such powerful and moving words were emerging from such a tiny person.
The enthusiasm that these young pupils show is unending. There was one boy who had been called up to point out a map he had designed. It had undergone a process of browning to ensure that it looked more ancient. “I burnt it with a flame!” exclaimed the boy his eyes gleaming with excitement. “I love maps, ” he explained. He paused and drew breath and then turned to the crowd - “I love everything!” Well life most certainly is going to be a ball for him.
We have had an immensely exciting week in terms of future schools results. At Abingdon all six boys who had been called for interview were awarded places, and indeed I was told that, all in all, the boys from our school had interviewed better than those from any other school. Meanwhile at Magdalen all seven of the boys who had applied were offered places with three of them being asked to try for scholarships. I am so proud of our boys and what they have achieved. We look forward to hearing from other schools imminently
Jeremy Quartermain, the new Headmaster of Bradfield came to preach this morning. He chose to speak about children’s literature, in particular about the Silver Sword by Ian Serrailier, a book which has inspired many children over the ages and which continues to do so. He spoke about the importance of taking action in times of difficulty or when people needed help rather than sitting back. He spoke about the way in which his family had welcomed a family from Ukraine into their lives at the outbreak of the war. Mr Quartermain was clearly a most thoughtful and civilised man with a great interest in music – he was, while in conversation with Miss Biddell, able to identify a piece of music by Peter Maxwell Davies by looking at the notes – something I could not do. I suspect that he will be a sensitive and thoughtful custodian of that beautiful and civilised school.
Bradfield is situated in a quiet valley in the wooded Berkshire countryside. Through the middle of it flows the Pang, a beguiling and gently flowing chalk stream (there are only 200 chalk streams in the world - and over 160 are in England.) It was on the Pang that Kenneth Graham set his children’s classic, “Wind in the Willows. ” I read out to the pupils that wonderful passage when Mole sees Ratty for the first time, emerging from his hole by the riverbank.
“As he gazed, something bright and small seemed to twinkle down in the heart of it, vanished, then twinkled once more like a tiny star. But it could hardly be a star in such an unlikely situation; and it was too glittering and small for a glow-worm. Then, as he looked, it winked at him, and so declared itself to be an eye; and a small face began gradually to grow up round it, like a frame round a picture. ”
This has always seemed to be as enchanting an introduction to anyone as I know and, of course, it is the beginning of a close friendship between the two animals. It always makes me think that we should pay attention to those first moments of meeting; they are very often the first steps in an exciting adventure that sometimes lasts for years.
As I write this, I can hear a conversation drifting up the stairway between a pupil and a teacher about Ancient Sumerian – I’m curious and wish to learn more but, if I stop to listen, I will delay the despatch of this newsletter and I know that many are waiting eagerly for its arrival, so I will draw it to a close! One final thought - Does the range of our pupils’ interests have an end? I suspect and hope not!
