HM Blog

29th March

The final days of the Spring Term 2021 have brought the arrival of a significant amount of guidance from all of the bodies which are involved in secondary assessment - the examining boards, OfQual and (especially) JCQ, the Joint Council for Qualifications. We now have a clearer picture of both the processes within school and the evidence needed to back up the allocation of grades for candidates at the end of their GCSE and A level courses. In actual fact the assessment and evidence gathering procedures which have been proposed by our Heads of Departments are sensible and fit for purpose - as well as humane. Given the circumstances of this year (and the last), it is in no-one's interests for our students to feel under the assessment kosh, but equally we do need to ensure that we are able to gather the evidence needed to show the standards at which they are working in a fair and equitable way. What still has to be made clear nationally is the QA processes that will be operated by the exam boards. This will appear next week

22nd March

After a truly mammoth effort by all concerned, the testing has come to an end - in school anyway. Year 9 came and went on Friday morning, and by the end of the day the chairs and tables had gone, the boxes of Covid-related materials had been re-stored and the tarpaulins lifted from the floor. From the beginning of this week the boys and girls will re-occupy the Sports Hall for...sport!. It will be marvellous to see the restoration of the early morning cricket nets, the full court basketball and the massed yoga take over once a week. Incrementally and steadily we are starting to re-experience what life in school should be like, and each new facet is a revelation. Classes are all running, practices are happening, music is being made; it really is like the awakening of a slumbering giant.

15th March

By the third day of last week they had all returned, streaming in through the gates and filling in where there had been an uncomfortable vacuum. Noise and bustle returned in force, with the difference being most felt at break and lunch times as Bishop's boys and girls milled around and flowed from room to room. The sounds of chatter, laughter and excitement echoed around the playgrounds and classrooms once more, and the sounding of the bells regained meaning. The sense of energy regained was palpable, and it was lovely to see young people simply enjoying being together once more in an environment that had become sadly unfamiliar. It is absolutely obvious that our boys and girls were keen to be back and they have settled very quickly back into their niches. Let's hope that the change is as irreversible as the politicians intend.

8th March

According to the politicians we are on the edge of 'something truly momentous' as schools across the nation start to see the return of children of all ages to the classroom. We started slightly early at Bishop's; on Thursday last week the Sports Hall started to fill with multi-coloured chairs, tables, boxes full of PPE and the paraphernalia of LFD testing ready for the arrival of the entire Sixth Form the following day. Early the following morning there was a tangible change in the atmosphere within the school site. A sense that the wait was almost over, that life was returning and an accelerating sense of purpose. More cars in the car park, fighting for space with the constructors' compound, and both staff and materials moving with increased energy from place to place as the final pieces of the testing jigsaw were fitted in to place. The volunteer helpers arrived, the Bursar briefed, aprons, masks and wonderful latex gloves went on. Everything was ready...

28th February

The flurry of major announcements from HM Government last week will have spurred schools into action countrywide. Here I have just written out to parents to chart the way forward for the next couple of weeks, a letter that had a complicated and intensive gestation as you might imagine. The challenge presented by having to carry out around 3,500 lateral flow tests in school over the first two week back in considerable. As I write this sitting in glorious Spring sunshine at my PC I am still am not sure whether the arrangements that I have sketched out will work, but we will do our very best! The sixth form are the first to engage as they will travel in to school on Friday of the coming week for a test and nothing else; their lessons will evaporate for the day as it would be just too complicated for everyone if teachers and students had to worry about remote lessons as well as testing all at the same time. A day to clear their heads will do the students good too - they can get their ducks in a row ready for Monday 8 March when their face-to-face lessons will begin.

22nd February

Browsing on twitter over the half term break I happened to glance at Professor Chris Whitty's feed, where as you might expect he makes the case for research and initiatives in public health. All very rational, based on sound science and statistics and aimed for public benefit. I then read some of the comments posted in response, and found them very difficult to comprehend - they seemed to be an odd mixture of the quasi-medical (touting various non-evidence based 'cures' for viral infection), quasi-numeric (employing slanted and unrepresentative stats), anecdotal (eg 'the hospitals are empty'), conspiratorial ('they are plotting against us all') together with some that were simply unhinged and sadly some personal abuse too. I am at a loss as to why anyone should choose to post such material; some might be seduced into thinking that such reading matter presents an alternative strategy for addressing the current health emergency. The current very high levels of take up for vaccination among the general population thankfully shows that the lunatic fringe is getting comparatively little traction, and thank goodness for that.

15th February

Bishop's found a rich vein of Rugby talent through the late 1980's, resulting in two BWS alumni simultaneously in the England Team in due course. One of them, Dave Egerton, who played at No8 for England, sadly died last week after a short illness. 

8th February

Reading back over these blog entries over the last year and more gives a perspective on the pandemic. A year ago life was normal, though I could sense a gathering storm through the global media. Football at the Ray Mac and a trip to the Globe with the whole of Year 10, the type of activity which has since died or changed into a foreign form. March 2020, just after the holiday, saw the school closed with the launch of lockdown and now we all have a different set of rules by which to live. The weekly entries add up to a journal through the epidemic as national events buffeted the school and dictated great swathes of our days.

1st February

Hard on the heels of the news of the demise of Titch Bowden came the sad tidings that Glyn Evans, 5th Headmaster of Bishop's, has died after a period of poor health. There will now be very few members of staff at BWS who will have worked with Glyn, as he retired from his Headship in 1992. He retained his loyalty and love of the school however, and was a regular attendee at Founder's Day until a few years ago when frailty made the journey too much of a challenge.