My next major milestone in July also seems to be looming far too quickly upon the horizon. Change can be worrying, but for me changes in the last year have been exciting and invigorating. If I look a little longer, the progress made in our communities and within society, especially in technology, has been considerable. Mobile phones, iPads, tablets, and the internet has had a significant impact upon us all. However, ZX Spectrums, cassette players and Manic Miner will bring back rose tinted memories for those of certain vintage.

Our boys live in momentous changing political times and in an era of rapid technological advances. To make sure that they are valuable contributors to society, it is important for us to recognise progressive modern ideas within technology and education to help equip them with the skills to adapt and be creative. It is also imperative that we stop and slow down on occasion and revel in our traditional ethos. Story times, unstructured play and just being children, learning to develop interests and making healthy friendships, are essential so that they can rely upon themselves and each other when times become challenging.  Mr Spanswick, without prompting, presented an assembly with similar messages this Wednesday. I am therefore delighted that events such as the Harry Potter evening, regular quiet reading times, or Chinese New Year feasts are found abundantly within our schedules.

Mr Rowan, who has carefully crafted our ICT programme writes that, ‘Boys at Junior Boys have an unique opportunity to develop their ICT skills’. As sophisticated users of GSuite applications, they create, collaborate together and share content in GDocs, GSlides, Gmail and a host of other apps using our ‘boot-in-8-seconds’ Chromebooks.  Older pupils even have their own webpage to which they can upload and display content, while learning the skills to keep them safe online.

Digital literacy aside, the pupils also enjoy the creative challenges that learning to code provides, using a variety of platforms to create and share exciting routines and games. No wonder Claires Court is an ICT award winning organisation!  I am also reassured by the guidance the boys receive on e-safety from their teachers.

Have a great weekend and perhaps one challenge and thought for us all is just to try and find a healthy mix of tech and tradition.

Take a look at the gallery of the week here.

Dean Richards