News from Mr Grady
Hello everyone,
I do hope that you managed to enjoy the half term break, and the jubilee celebrations despite the slightly patchy sun that we sometimes managed to see breaking through the clouds.
Over the half term break I attended a wedding that was on its fourth re-arrangement from the pandemic, almost 2 years to the day since it had originally been scheduled. I was best man to the groom, who I have known since I was 11. It was such a joy to actually see my friend finally manage to get married, through all the false-starts we’d had over the last two years.
34 years is a long time to know anybody, and although I’m sure we all have friends from school with whom we’ve stayed in touch, it does feel particularly impressive to have sustained a friendship through thick and thin over the years.
Although I won’t share all the details of my best man’s speech here, there was one small section that on reflection seemed curiously apt for a school newsletter: The very first time I saw the chap who was to become a friend for the last 34 years, he was walking past me. It was our first day of secondary school. The Head Teacher, was stood at the front of the hall, eyeing up the “new blood.” Anyway, as I was stood there a nervous little first year, my view of the scary head teacher was obscured by my friend walking past. (He was very tall, and I was very short!) The thing I remember though is not the height difference, but the smile on his face. If he was nervous, he didn’t show it, what he had was a face that radiated “joy in curiosity,” the excitement for something new. He wasn’t being distracted by the chatter, the pushing and jostling, he was genuinely interested in what happens next, and he was so present, and at ease in himself. Not bad for 11. This friend was to become, over the years, a scientist, a doctor, a teacher and a novelist, and on his wedding day, he still had that same face that said “I’m just eager to see what comes next.”
As we continue to emerge from the challenges of the last two years (and I am well aware that perhaps for some, they are ready to stop hearing those words) I, the senior team, staff and students, and I am sure the parents and carers of the RHS community share that sense of excitement for what comes next. It is very easy to forget the innocent excitement for something new that we all have when we’re 11, but it is specifically by trying to capture that open-mindedness to the next challenge that we will continue to grow as community, and plan for our next steps.
If you’d have asked me what my 11 year-old friend might have had marked on his “what’s next?” path 34 years ago, I certainly wouldn’t have predicted the vast array of jobs, successes and challenges he’d have faced, but I knew, instinctively, even at the age of 11 that the look on his face when I first saw him meant that even though he might not be “ready” for whatever life was to throw at him, he was certainly going to face it head-on, with curiosity, joy and excitement.
My promise to myself then, on seeing this great friend married, and celebrating his next steps in life was to try and maintain some of that joy and curiosity, to radiate some of that positivity every day, and to be open minded about the next challenge, the next opportunity, the next step on the path.
With all best wishes, stay well and safe!
Mr Grady
Physics Books Return
Year 8 Science
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