Occasional Place Assessment took place on Tuesday, and we hosted over 30 children across all year groups including 23 girls. In Assembly on Monday I congratulated the boys on their predictably superb performance at Open Morning the previous Friday and told them to simply be their normal, welcoming selves when the prospectives came the following day. The boys are routinely superb company with new classmates, and they completely delivered on what was a very successful and well received day. Was it a purposely gentlemanly and chivalrous approach just because they had been asked to not be weird around girls? I don’t think so. I see that sort of behaviour when they welcome boys and watching everybody playing, dining, chatting and learning together made me and my colleagues reassured and excited for what awaits us as a new school atmosphere. And of course the hugs at the end of the day when saying goodbye to their new friends was one of those classic ‘ah bless’ moments…
Next term, The Beacon Peloton rides again in what will be the third ‘stage’ of our epic trilogy, this year to Cromer Lighthouse. Though 150 miles over two days (15 and 16 May), this will be our easiest ride yet with very little climb and passing through some beautiful East Anglian villages and staying the night and dining in historic Ely on the Friday. We have a core group of around 15 past and current parents and a number of staff but are always on the lookout to recruit new members. If you would like to join us, please email me – [email protected] – and I will give you more details. As some of you know, my older son Patrick was very poorly last term with heart failure and though I can never repay the debt to the NHS for his recovery, I would like us to ride this year for myocarditisuk.com, a local charity that focuses on the same condition that he had. Cycling out of the Quad with the cheers of the boys ringing in our ears and the fellowship of the ride itself makes this one of the highlights of the school year for me… now just need to lose some weight and get ride ready…
Nick Baker