Celebrating Harvest Festival with Pre-Prep
Today was harvest festival for Pre-Prep. It was a most colourful occasion with some beautifully slick and musical songs. Some of the singers were so excited by their lively rendition of “Run Run Rabbit” and of “Cauliflowers Fluffy” that they were jumping up and down in time to the rhythm. We were also treated to a colourful performance of the epic tale “The Enormous Turnip” which involved a long chain of assorted personalities including a dog (and his friend) the cat (and his friend) the mouse attempting to pull the turnip out of the ground. After much pulling the turnip shot out of the soil and the whole chain of people fell onto the ground. It was wonderfully dramatic. Meanwhile the altar was covered in donations that had been made by the Pre-Prep families on behalf of Cholsey Volunteers which is a remarkable organisation dedicated to assisting vulnerable members of the Oxford community. I told the Pre Prep that the harvest offerings were very important, but could they think of other offerings that they could make at this time of year. One boy responded “The school’s kindness!” What a beautiful response! He had so sensitively picked up on the fact that the environment that Mr Robards and his staff have created in the Pre-Prep is one of kindness, and that was so evident in the response of the boy and in the warmth of the occasion.
Talking of Mr Robards, he kindly thanked everyone else but not himself so I thought that I should take the opportunity to thank him as he had overseen the occasions. I told the pupils that there was someone else I wanted to thank and could they work out who it was. “Yourself!” one girl suggested…… as you might imagine that hadn’t been my purpose. “Evil Pea!” another suggested, thinking of a villainous vegetable they had been contemplating in some of the lessons recently. I again was able to answer no. “God!” said another which was a fabulous answer and absolutely right, demonstrating that they had been listening carefully to what the chaplain had just said. But of course when I said that I was thinking of a more terrestrial figure in the form of their Head of Pre-Prep, everyone cheered loudly.
Earlier in the same building the Prep School had welcomed the President of Corpus Christi College, Professor Helen Moore to preach during Cathedral Assembly. She spoke so fluently and interestingly upon the appearance of Jesus to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus soon after the resurrection. The disciples do not recognise who it is until he breaks bread with them. She preached about judging between what was real and fake and brought in one real pear and one plastic pear which resembled each other very closely. It was an honour to have Professor Moore with us.
After her talk we focussed on “the real”by announcing the appointments of some more prefects and of the officers for this year. They were as follows:
Head Boy: Max C
Deputy Head Boy: Adam C
House Captain Carroll: William L
House Captain Sayers: Randolf S
House Captain Wolsey: Adam C
Prefects: Louis C, George G and William L
May I wish them all the very best in their new roles. The role played by senior pupils in the School is a vital one, and one of the best things about a Prep School. Senior boys all take on responsibilities and we will announce the Ambassadors after half term. They add so much to the school and gain so much from taking on responsibility that their contemporaries at 11 – 18 school would not do, being the young pupils in those schools. No wonder that boys from schools like ours are so often more mature and accomplished than many of their peers. The present group of senior boys is outstanding and I am certain we will have a very successful year.
As ever, this was born out by Open Morning last weekend where our parents commented upon the pleasure of meeting their pupil guides. Of course without our pupils, the school is nothing! Have a lovely weekend.
