National Poetry Day was celebrated on Thursday this week with a rendition of Mr Wespieser’s poem “Truth” launching the School’s annual poetry competition theme for Senior pupils, for submission by the end of term. It’s a funny, poignant, occasionally squelchy, epic fable, with three happy endings, and has modelled perhaps one (of many) ways budding bard’s might choose to celebrate the meaning of truth. 

Dr Peter Woodroffe, Deputy CEO of the Independent Schools Association, was our principal guest at Speech Day yesterday.

Claires Court Senior Boys has got off to a flying start this September…..

It is wonderful that summer has returned during the school day, putting smiles on everyone’s face and adding to the uptake of Vitamin D and release of hormones to lift our happiness levels.

As Academic Principal, as well as Head of Senior Boys, I like to consider academic matters first, with all those other elements that surround school life trailing in its wake. This week it is hard not to think first about the weather, with the rain lashing against the windows! Over the next few days, the major public exams at GCSE and A level come to an end, whilst Year 10 complete their year of studies with their terminal exams from their current year of study.  Today, we send home grade cards to parents of pupils in Years 7 to 9 capturing as they do the outcomes from Common Task 3, completed just before half-term. Whilst recognising success and failure may be part of the exam process, within school the learning happens when the student reviews with teacher and parent ‘what went well’ (WWW) and ‘even better if’ (EBI). This process of reflection, thinking about the work is known as ‘Metacognition’, and for the past 2500 years of humanity’s thinking (since the time of Socrates and Plato), it’s the one thing that separates the successful learners above their peers.