Friday Headlines
the weekly newsletter from EHS
Head's Start of Term Message
Westbourne | Preparatory | Senior School | Sixth Form | Parents
04 September 2020
Thursday was an auspicious day. The simple joy of seeing pupils smiling as they walked into school cannot be expressed in words. It has been a long road to get to the point of re-opening the school to everyone. All members of staff have worked hard to ensure that the environment is ready for pupils to be safe, feel confident and be ready to continue learning. One member of staff expressed it so well when they said that it was moving to be part of something that seems to grow stronger with every challenge.
Challenge was something that I spoke to the senior school girls about in the first assembly of term. An oft used phrase is that in life we have many mountains to climb and how we approach the mountains or challenges we face is important. I explained to the pupils that I had recently climbed Snowdon with my family and that the approach each of us had taken to the challenge of walking 4.5 miles uphill was very different, but that actually no one way was better. Some took a little longer than others, one broke down the mountain into manageable stages, one took the mountain by storm, one saw their role as being one of supporting others to meet the challenge, and another deployed a steely and steady determination to make it to the summit. In the end, regardless of how we had approached it, we all made it to the top. Despite our different approaches we achieved our goal by encouraging, supporting, and motivating each other.
To have a team around you as you set out to achieve a goal is a great gift and at EHS we have such a strong team consisting of staff, pupils and parents; it is certainly true that together everyone achieves more. As a school we will have challenges this year, and as individuals we will also face challenges, but as I said in the assembly, we should face these sure in the knowledge that we have the tools within ourselves to meet these challenges, but that we also have people around us who will support and encourage us.
I love a challenge and we may have been only back a day, but I already know from the faces of all within our community that we are ready to take on the year that lies ahead. We will need to work together and will need to adjust our approach at times, but as I can certainly testify the view at the top when you have climbed the mountain is awesome.
