According to my encyclopedia (hats off to anyone who still has such a relic on their bookshelf) St George was “a soldier of Cappadocian Greek origin and a member of the Praetorian Guard who served under the Roman emperor Diocletian in the third century.” The soldier’s name may have been lost to legend, but history is a curious beast, and by the 11th century, legend had St George saving a princess and slaying a dragon. This is what people of the time needed, and so St George adapted. With St George’s Day being marked last Tuesday, change was at the forefront of my mind as the Summer Term began.
A school day (term and year) is always hugely varied, which is one of the reasons I became a teacher. With this variety comes a need for pupils and staff to be flexible: one might move from sitting a practice paper and then into a Music lesson, or work on a “dream classroom” project before leading a choir session (both of these are real examples from this week). Needless to say, in only a two day week, the Lyonsdown children have packed an awful lot of learning in.
Term may have started on Thursday, but the School was open for staff on Tuesday and I am always amused that pupils are surprised to hear their teachers return before they do “you do homework?” one Year 3 girl asked. Such INSET days provide a School with a chance to take stock and look further at what can to be changed to make our provision even better. With this in mind, the staff at Lyonsdown discussed how we plan to develop STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Maths) opportunities across the curriculum, as well as looking at a wide range of other matters, including safeguarding, marking, data analysis and catering. Collaboration is this term’s Lyonsdown Learning habit and was evident in abundance. We are also looking forward to improving our premises over the summer too, and I hope to see many of you at our presentation next Tuesday (from 6:45pm, but please see the email sent this week for further details).
The children are looking forward to change too. In addition to the above, there are a huge range of opportunities for development on the horizon, with residential trips, preparing for exams, Sports Day and the Upper School Production being a few highlights of the Summer Term. Perhaps the biggest change occurs if you are a Year 2 boy or Year 6 girl: those children in their final term will change from a Lyonsdown pupil into one from another school come the Summer holidays. As I said before the Easter break, the final term in any year is not one in which development slows down. If an obscure Roman Greek soldier can slay dragons in the 11th century, inspire a rock song in the 20th century and be put on stage at the National Theatre in the 21st century, then we can all be flexible.
All the best for a lovely weekend, especially if you are celebrating Passover.
Mr Hammond
Mr Hammond’s Challenge
A novel one to begin the term. I am currently reading American Gods (I can recommend this fascinatedly strange tome to parents). A house point to any pupil who brings the book they are reading to my office to
discuss it.