News from Mr Grady
22nd February 2024
Hello Everyone,
I hope you had a restful and relaxing half-term break. We have (after this week only 4 weeks until Easter, so it really is another short burst of activity!
This is actually the half-way point of the year for years 7-10 and year 12, and of course, we’re a little past half way for years 11 and 13. As such, I used my half term for some reflection on the year so far, and where we’ have got to. Just before half term, we had a visit from “Challenge Partners” which is a school-to-school improvement team, who descend on you and quality assure the quality of education that the school is providing – it is a useful external measure, that uses serving practitioners to discuss and feedback on our “what is going well” areas and offer thoughts on our “even better ifs.”
I’ll be sharing the review document with staff, students and parents once it is finally approved. We were very pleased that the review acknowledged our work and efforts, and also gave helpful pointers for further improvement.
Having the review before half term also left me the chance to have a reflective half-term break, and embrace some new experiences. I attended the “Big History Night In” at Southwark Cathedral at the start of the break where 12 Historians (that’s right, 12!) spoke for 15 minutes each about a variety of topics from “how to deal with your heirs and spares” understanding history through jokes and humour, and, of course no historical debate would be complete without “who killed the princes in the tower?” This last topic, referring of course as to whether King Richard III murdered the two sons of Elizabeth, and children of Edward IV) in the Tower of London. In 15 minutes the two historians, Nathen Amin and Matt Lewis, demonstrated with skill and flair, how to have a civilised, mature debate. They each take opposing views in their research, one clearly believing that Richard III was responsible for this crime, and one not. The room was clearly quite partisan on each side two, but the good humour, and the mature discussion of facts, research and opinion was a real pleasure to behold.
In a world where, for some reason we sometimes feel that the only way to express an opinion or discuss a topic is to shout a little louder than our counterpart, it was refreshing to see such good-humoured disagreement, and such a nuanced debate. It was an evening of academic insight, but also a real lesson in the fact that nuance and subtlety of interpretation is paramount in order to have real debate, and the absolute importance of unpicking the facts before jumping to conclusions was ever more importantly stated with each discussion. In an environment where online discussion, social media platforms and the growth of AI generated material makes it ever more difficult to get to objective facts, this evening was a real insight into the importance not just of learning details, or “facts” but also the skills with which to critically analyse them. Food for thought indeed as we move into the second half of the school year, and as we continue to prepare our students throughout their time here at RHS for that important step beyond our doors into the world at large.
Stay well and safe everyone,
With all best wishes,
Mr Grady
