What a week; I can’t remember a time when there has been that consistency of extreme temperatures, but unfortunately we may have to accept that this will become the norm. Whilst all schools were caught out by the remote learning aspect of the pandemic, we have noted the increased temperatures in the summer (and early autumn) term over the years and have planned accordingly with our implementation of air conditioning across the school site. Only MFL and (soon to be relocated and developed) Early Years building remain but they have successfully re-located themselves this week to ensure continuation of education in ambient and pleasant temperatures. The sweet spot seems to be to set the room temperature to 20 degrees; any less than that has boys asking to put their blazers on. As one parent said to me on the gate yesterday, his son asked if he could wear his vest to school as his classroom can get chilly!
Nothing chilly about the Year 6 staging of Aladdin last week and, as I said after Saturday’s matinee performance, that was a ‘hot’ performance! This ‘company’ of Year 6 players will go down in history, not only with their excellence in dramatic output but more so how they have worked collaboratively; never before has there been a more defined case of a ‘rising tide raises all ships’. Watching boys spotting stage anomalies and adapting without prompts was so professional, and allowed our expert Performing Arts Team to experiment and challenge themselves with production values, script inventions and choreography that you can only do with complete confidence in the group you are working with. 2026 Aladdin will go down in Beacon legend and folklore…though how many times do we find ourselves saying that about a production at this school, particularly this year – 2026 has truly been a vintage year for Performing Arts.
Nick Baker