Newsletters

News from Mr Grady

Hello everyone.

As a drama teacher and as an immensely proud Head Teacher I cannot write this week’s newsletter without some comment on our School Production which drew to a close last Friday night after 3 stellar performances. 

This year’s production, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was a masterclass in the delivery of Shakespeare’s verse, in creative and inventive story-telling and in some fantastic character work from everyone involved.

I love a cheap laugh (possibly more than most things) and the cast managed to find plenty, treating Shakespeare’s text, not as an archaic piece of literature to be revered, but as a living, breathing play text with much to say to a modern audience.  Their bravery in acting choices, and fantastic direction from Miss Mason, assisted by Becky Nown, the incredible contributions of the band, under the superb direction of Mrs D'Souza and the sheer confidence with which our students owned the stage and indeed the space was incredible. (A special shout out to Ms Kane for the backdrop, capturing perfectly the magic and mystery of the fairy world and the forest outside Athens!)

What was so very pleasing to see was the full range of our students taking part in the process, whether behind the scenes in costume, makeup, props or the technical side, whether in the band, selling tickets, or actually on stage, it really was a whole school event with over 160 students involved.  Even more pleasing than that was the range of Year 11 and Year 13 students who took part.  I have worked in schools where such year groups are “forbidden” to take part, as they “should be concentrating on their exams.”  To which I say, in my 20-something years’ experience of teaching, I have yet to meet a student that did not make their expected grades in an exam because they took part in a production (or indeed any other sort of extra-curricular activity!) 

If we were to say “don’t do the production – you’ve got exams!”  Where would it stop?  “Don’t play for the netball team – you’ve got exams?”  “Don’t read that book that isn’t part of the specification, you’ve got exams?”  Pretty soon all we’d be doing is preparing for exams, and I’m not sure that creates the well-rounded individuals we’re so proud of supporting at Rugby High School.  

Anyone who pays attention to education news may well have seen the headlines about the UK’s standing in the international PISA tests. The headline I feel, that stands out is our ranking of 69^th out of 79 countries for students’ life satisfaction.  Essentially our happiness.  If we rule-out experiences that may support our life satisfaction “because we’ve got exams” what are doing for our students as they move on from Rugby High School?

To suggest that learning some lines for a play means there’s less space for other factual information, or that it might “get in the way” is to misunderstand how we learn.  The more we’re activating all the different parts of our brain (as such a thing as performing or playing a sport, does) the more we’re developing and adding to our brain capacity.  The discipline needed to take part in extra-curricular work, and keep on top of one’s academic work, to manage one’s time and to understand what it is to prioritise and reflect on one’s efficiency and impact all come from taking part in a range of activities and experiences.

Of course, the experiences one has in working as part of a team, or contributing to the wider life of the school need to be supported with careful attention to one’s academic work:  We all need to practice our retention skills, to build our knowledge, and regularly revisit it to ensure that we’re developing our understanding, to develop tried and tested work and revision strategies to ensure we feel secure in moving through the formal curriculum, to be disciplined in one’s approach to an effective work ethic.  We do that for nearly 7 hours a day in school as it is, quite rightly, our core business.  We just need to make sure there’s a healthy balance of all of these things, and no single aspect is given precedence over another.

Our vision for students of Rugby High School is not that they are just a collection of knowledge and exam results, but that they are something much richer:  Academically successful, yes, and skilled and confident learners, but also young people with character, who’ve set heights in their heart to make a difference, who can move from the stage at Rugby High School to the local, national and international stages outside the school and take their space with the same joy, curiosity and confidence we saw in A Midsummer Night’s Dream last week.

Best wishes,

Mr Grady