Dear Parents,
Well, what a week of words that was. Every day brought something different and whereas for most boys, yesterday’s ‘Beacon Wonka Bars’ were the highlight, for me, Tim Maltin’s Titanic talk, right at the start of the week, was the pick of the packed schedule of events. After a captivating half an hour’s talk about arguably the most famous ship in history, Tim fielded questions from the amassed Beacon boys. Now this year marks my thirtieth year in education, and over that time I have to come to expect that when a visitor throws the floor open to a group of young people, the first question is invariably “What football team do you support?” and the second “Do you have any pets?” The responses to these then precipitate follow-up questions and the line of questioning meanders yet further off topic. Not so at The Beacon though, and particularly not with this subject matter, when so many boys had such ingrained knowledge of their own that they wanted to test on Tim as the world expert on all things Titanic. I had to finish the session at 10am but I said at the time that we, and he, could have gone on all day, such was the symbiotic relationship that Tim had with sharing his knowledge with the ever-inquisitive Beacon boys.
I have such respect for people like Tim who know so much about a particular area; much the same with the experts on ‘Antiques Roadshow’ and I would love to be able to impart that sort of specialist knowledge on others. Showing off alert, but when my father was alive he was considered one of the world experts on ‘metal fatigue’ and was forever buying ‘Slinkys’ for me, my brother and my sister as a way to engage us in the science of metal and how it reacts to different stresses and motions. I wish I had paid more attention back then as even though a pretty niche subject area, my current ‘expert’ knowledge on ‘senior school admissions processes’, though relevant to my profession, doesn’t quite have the same currency. My father would have loved listening to Professor Raman Prinja, who spoke to the boys on Wednesday about his subject of Astrophysics. Like Tim, an incredibly impressive and engaging speaker that had the boys enthralled with his skill not just about his subject but in the way he communicated a complex topic in such an accessible way; not just for young people but also the staff. I think we have all learned a lot this week…
Have a good weekend,
Nick Baker