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Mr Davies, Honoured Guests, Governors, Parents, Staff & Children. Many people werevery kind last year in their feedback on my first speech as a Headmaster. In the past 12months, it has not been the only speech that I have been asked to give. Apart from myacoustic ramblings
(can you hear me Mrs Burke)
at last month’s Butterfly Ball, I wasasked, by my old Senior School, back in October to give the prizes and speak at their Junior School Credits afternoon for years 7 to 10. Suffice to say, in my introduction, sothat the boys would understand I was one of them, I announced the house that I used to be in. Cheers rang out…from precisely 20% of the boys…boos & jeers from the other 80!It went quite well, after that, considering…But I learned then to make sure I know my audience better before launching into any wildstatements. And so, back to this speech. After 18 months in post I suppose that I know alittle more now than I did 12 months ago. Last year I stated that I would “watch & listen”and, having done plenty of that, its now time for the Second Speech.A little research uncovered what is known as the sophomore effect: (from the Greek 
 sophos
, meaning wise and
moros
meaning fool) or, as it is more commonly known,difficult second album syndrome. Or, as one former colleague told me about headship – you can do nothing wrong in your first year and nothing right in your second!But consider that the Beatles first album spent 30 weeks at number 1 while their secondonly 21. Although, Oasis went platinum 7 times for Definitely Maybe, it was succeeded by 14 platinum’s for (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? Maybe difficult second albumsyndrome doesn’t affect everyone!So my question has been to myself: how to approach this year’s speech. Should it bemonth by month? Should it cover all aspects of the school area by area? You will allhave your memories & highlights, there have been so many achievements & so manyindividuals: pupils, parents, staff and governors that have stood out and deserve to bementioned. However, if I mention one I have to mention all & then may fall into the trapof either missing someone out or under estimating the value of an individual’scontribution. Therefore, although a small number of names do appear in my report, Iwish to start out by thanking each & everyone of you here in this hall, and those in theother year groups or not with us tonight, for playing a part in making this communityunique. From the pride of the youngest ones in Pre School who make a point of showingme that they are now wearing their proper school uniform. To the joy and sense of fulfilment on the faces of our J4’s last week as they took the applause after their final performance of Grease. To the parents who give of their time and resources to organiseeverything from coffee mornings to second hand uniforms to the building of long jump pits. To the staff who live and breathe this school and the well-being of every child; whoare fair and even-handed to the point of distraction to ensure that every child feels valued.To the Former Pupils Association and all our friends who still feel such affection for this place, its history and its legacy. And to the Governors who have created a structure thathas enabled this school to continue its evolution. Thank you.
 
Review 
Prudence
I am going to start, therefore with a state of the union. The wider world has experienceda turbulent time, economically. And the press have certainly given IndependentEducation a hard time. But, when every other head that I meet asks the inevitablequestions: “Been affected by the credit crunch?” and “How are numbers?” I can onlyanswer honestly: No and “actually we end this year with 6 more pupils on our role thanlast year”. For a small school like ours, that’s a big difference.What we have is a stable school. As long as we back our principles, keep our communication within the community open and back our school plan, we will continue to be a stable school. This stability is due, in large part of the prudence of Mrs. Tidiman,our Bursar. Now, I know that she is a very modest woman, and most of you only ever getto meet with her if you are handing over money, but she has been instrumental inensuring that not only do we have a stable and well-managed budget, but that staff canactually fulfil their requirements by investing in resources and activities that enhance theexperiences of the children at school.That reminds me that I heard about a group of bursars and a group of headmasters fromdifferent schools who went to a conference together on the train. The bursars were alllaughing because they had only bought one ticket between the whole group while theheadmasters had all brought a ticket each. When the ticket collector was spotted in thedistance all the bursars ran off and crammed into the toilet. The ticket collector bangs onthe door and says ‘Tickets please!’ and the bursars slide the ticket under the door. The bursars returned to their seats looking very smug.On the way back from the conference the headmasters, learning from the bursars andwanting to demonstrate that they too can save their schools money, tell the bursars thatthey have only bought one ticket between them. We were amazed to hear that the bursarshad not bought any tickets. When the ticket collector is spotted in the distance all theheadmasters rush into the toilet. The bursars walk calmly into the other toilet but not before one of them has knocked on the door of the toilet and said ‘Tickets please!’
Academic Success
Prudent planning for the future is what we must do in order to continue to provide theoutstanding learning experiences for all our children of which we are proud.4 of our J4s, through their hard work and with support both inside and outside school,achieved 8 scholarships between them. Grace, with 2 music scholarships, and potentiallya place at the Royal College of Music; Annabel with 3; Alexander with 2 and Tom with 1.We will return, naturally to our J4s, but the diligence of our children in this year groupand across the school must be celebrated. As a group the children will now go on toattend a wide range of schools: Richard Hale, Presdales, Monk’s Walk, Sherardswood,Haileybury, Habadashers’ Aske’s, Bishops Stortford College & Felsted.In addition, receiving our SATs results this year has indicated an increase in the overall percentage of children achieving level 4 and above and an increase in those achievinglevel 5.As a team we now set ourselves annual targets to address the standards of pupil learningacross the school. This year, we decided we would look in more depth at grammar and
 
 punctuation and the focus that has been given to this element has had immediate impacton the end of term assessments for our Juniors, with all our children in J1 to 3 achievinghigher marks for this component of their tests.
Curriculum Development
I know that parents are always very interested in what goes on within school & we have acommitment to ensuring that we are as transparent as possible. The termly seminarsstarted in March with an evening about dyslexia and developing reading and the second,in June, on the acquisition of number and dyscalculia. They are designed, for our own parents and the wider community, to lift the lid on the process of learning and create afamiliarity with some of the techniques we use here and some to which we aspire. Theautumn term will see another seminar, this time on the concept of the able & talentedchild. And we plan to maintain this termly evening event from now on. Any ideas &suggestions for topics are welcome.However, general knowledge is something that, along with core subjects that we have totreat seriously. A colleague, seeking to increase the breadth of interest at the school on allsorts of topics, first tried a bit of grammar:What is the future of I give? I take, came the answer.Ok. What are parts of speech? Lungs and air, came the replyWhat is syntax, he asked somewhat perplexed. A tax on sinners? They told him.Alright, something different, a bit of geography then. What are the inhabitants of Moscow are called? Mosquitoes said one youngster.Simpler question maybe? What is the general direction of the Alps? Straight up, he wastold for a look of disdain.How was iron discovered? Because someone smelt it!What is the spinal column? A long bunch of bones. The head sits on the top and you siton the bottom.I am certain every child at St Joseph’s In The Park knows the answer to those question.I am approached every now and again by parents about some of our policies. Well, for the past school year we have had everything under review by ourselves and governorsand a revised set of polices will be ready by the end of September. They will be fullycompliant with the regulations laid down for independent schools by government. Moreon this in a moment.But I will let you in on one of our policies slightly early: the homework policy. Of course, everyone wants to know how much homework their children should be doing.Here, then, is an explanation of the school homework policy for J4.Students should not spend more than ninety minutes per night. This time should be budgeted in the following manner if the student desires to achieve moderate to goodmarks.16 minutes looking for the homework.10 minutes calling a friend to find out what the homework was.8 minutes in the bathroom.7 minutes checking the TV Guide.13 minutes telling parents that the teacher never explained the assignment.9 minutes having your parents tell you how to do the homework 
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