Seven years ago my wife and I were struggling to find a name for our daughter; we eventually named her Wren. My great aunt was a WRN during WW2 and we loved the principle of Ren in Confusian thought that says you can only grow and develop as a human if you seek for those around you to grow and prosper, "wishing to be established herself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged herself, she seeks also to enlarge others." I think Ren sums up what both teachers and parents are trying to do with the young people we are responsible for; we are all doing our best to be more Ren. Mrs Ruddick’s excellent assembly on our key values of respect and the empathy and compassion that requires did a great job in explaining this to the pupils. If our young people respect others, are compassionate towards other people and focus on how they can help those around them to grow, in turn, they will develop into the leaders of the future. 

So, as we enter the harder weeks of the term we should remember Ren.