Mr Peter Last, the Headmaster of Kingham Hill, came to preach to us this morning in the Cathedral. He had set the story of David and Goliath to be read and he very dramatically took the role of the swaggering Goliath, the immensely tall Philistine warrior, who paraded himself in front of the Israelite army daring anyone to come out and fight him. Of course the fear that this towering warrior cast upon his opponents was total – except for the young boy David, who pointed out to Saul that he was used to rescuing his sheep from lions and other ferocious beasts.

I am very late writing this newsletter as I was completely captivated by the art and DT exhibition in the William Walton Hall. There was so much beautiful art and inventive design that I just couldn’t leave. Really so much talent was on display. As I approached the room, I heard a bouncing ping-pong ball which turned out to be part of the table football experience; I’ve never seen quite such an interactive exhibition before! Highly suited to a musical School, one wall was covered in wonderful deconstructed instruments, the sinuous windings of horns lay next to piles of violins stacked on top of one another. There was a collection of beaming Pirates, all seemingly with eye patches and, if anyone was unsure of the time, there was a wall of operating wooden clocks one with a cuckoo! I enjoyed a collection of exotic zoo animals, the snake towering over all the other animals, his red fangs hanging provocatively from his massive head. A cardboard Colosseum sat in amongst other carefully constructed models, while a momento Mori in the form of the Grim Reaper hovered alarmingly in the background. Rather more reassuringly, one remarkable picture showed a skull growing out of a tree which had a heart coloured shape showing various Christian symbols of love and peace. There was a lovely collection of self-portraits painted by the nursery children. I was fascinated to observe how they saw themselves! I could go on and on but have just tried to give you a sense of some of the artistic works on display. I would like to thank Mrs Elias and Mr Stacey so much for all their hard work. They have both been a great inspiration to the pupils and I’m thrilled by the standard of work on display this year.

It has been lovely to see everyone back over the last three days. Oxford looks utterly magnificent; the
Meadow is full of cowslips and tulips and, all around us, that bewitching combination of buildings
and gardens has turned Oxford into a worldly paradise. It’s unsurprising, therefore, that there seems
to be a real atmosphere of positivity about the place and I’m looking forward to this term hugely.
One parent said to me this morning that she always associated this time of year with the excitement
of going back to school for the summer term that she felt when she was a child. I know exactly what
she means!

It was Red Nose Day today! I managed to arrive at School sporting a blue shirt and yellow tie having forgotten temporarily about the importance of the day. But help was at hand! The front office popped a plastic nose onto my everyday one and Mr Berry quickly appeared with a red top hat which he seemed to have lurking around in his classroom. Is there any occasion for which a Reception teacher does not have a prop? There were any number of red clothes in evidence today including a beautiful Chinese silk top emblazoned with two glorious dragons and some red trousers covered in big black spots. When I complimented the wearer of the spotted trousers, he pulled his anonymous jacket back to reveal a shining red top with a glorious ladybird on the front. The trousers now made perfect sense! The most original piece of red impedimenta was the pair of red glasses being worn by a boy who arrived dramatically on his bicycle. “I’ve had a very interesting journey. My red glasses transformed the colours of the traffic lights. The red looked brown, the yellow looked green and the green looked blank!” I was relieved, I have to say, that he had arrived at school with everything, including his glasses, fully in tact.

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!”

Yesterday Pre-Prep resembled a rather exotic corner of the Spanish Main. It was Pirate Day and, as I stood on Brewer Street, shiploads of pirates were deposited on the early morning street, clad in colourful head gear, scars adorning their faces from ferocious cutlass fights, and bright gold earrings glinting in the early morning light. One young pirate approached me and stood staring at me for a long time. Suddenly, from behind her back, she raised an inflatable plastic cutlass which she thrust towards with extraordinary speed. “Shiver me timbers!” I expostulated. It was going to be a dangerous day! I hope you will be delighted to hear that I survived the encounter.