Thursday 10 May.
Dear all
Exciting news from the school! We have appointed our Head Boy and Head Girl. With one of our governors, I interviewed all five candidates. An impossible decision followed, but eventually Lauren McPartlane and Henry Judge were appointed. All five were outstanding at interview, and have a strong track record of making excellent contributions to school life. I have worked with many students in leadership roles in the past, but never a team of the calibre of our own Senior Student Leadership Team.
In my last piece, I touched on the central importance of our staff in ensuring The Buckingham School moves forward to become a first-class school of choice, but I also noted that the students are what we are all about. Just like our new Heads of School, the rest of our students have been delivering recently!
Top of my list is a real spine-tingling moment. There was an accident recently, on London Road. Many of our students were nearby and three students (Molly, Kathryn and Kie) demonstrated their leadership skills, supporting at the scene: “three beautiful amazing young kids.”
Our students really are a tremendous bunch. The “youth of today” are so often criticised by the older generations, but it really strikes me that a Buckingham School student knows how to conduct themselves, and (usually!) does so in an exemplary fashion. This week I received a message from a Swan Pool user who walked past the front of school at home time. Students were well-behaved, well-mannered and moved out of her way without being asked to allow her past. As a teacher herself, she writes “I would be proud to work in a school where students were this happy, mature and polite.” I wish I knew who those students were!
Daisy Abra and Angus Butcher performed at the Mayor Making ceremony last week, during which the school received the award (again) for “Excellence in Sports and the Arts.” We have had triathletes competing for the first time, our Duke of Edinburgh expeditions are away soon, many Year 7’s are soon off to PGL, students taking part in the apprenticeship challenge, more success in sports fixtures, another primary schools’ tournament coming up, and so on…
It has been wonderful to pass on an influx of thank you’s and compliments received from parents recently. Staff who have gone beyond what we expect of them deserve acknowledgement for what they do inside and outside of the classroom …keep them coming!
With best wishes.
Mr A McGinnes
Headteacher