What an absolute joy it is to have our Wimbledonians back together. There may have been elements of anxiety, and something of an adjustment period, but the sound of laughter, of feet up and down the stairs, and of live baroque music floating into my office from the Senior Hall, all combine to make us feel much more like a school once again.
The teaching staff are buzzing: no matter how sophisticated the Guided Home Learning, being back in the classroom, face-to-face, is unbeatable; and it was described to me by a seasoned Head of Department as ‘a mid-career reminder why I do what I do’. There is something around the physicality of the classroom experience and the tangible sense of excitement created when learning happens in person, together, which simply cannot be replicated online.
So it’s been an exciting week. But it’s also been a week of contention and difficulty outside of the school gates, with the disappearance of Sarah Everard and the seemingly constant references to the discord within the Royal family currently. I am not a huge social media user – perhaps to the detriment of our marketing at times! – but even I have noticed the polarisation and vitriol which has sprung up on Twitter in particular in reaction to both of these events and it makes me all the more certain that we need to focus on civil discourse, listening with nuance and respect for opposing opinions with our students. As our speaker yesterday, author and activist Ore Ogunbiyi said, when talking about how to discuss race and racism: ‘Be defiant, keep banging the drum; but bring people to the table, remain strong and have the discussion. If we don’t have the discussion, how will anything change?’ Wisdom from a former pupil there! I do enjoy learning from those I have taught.
But in terms of talking to your own daughters about personal safety, about the inevitable sorrow for the individual tragedy, and perhaps anger that women remain unsafe within our society, I really recommend the RAP project as a good starting point. Many of the girls will have heard before from Deanna Puccio and Allison Havey as part of our GROW programme and indeed some of you will have attended their parent talks over the years. I will be talking to all girls in Y10 and above before the end of term to address some of the real concerns they are feeling, and we’ll be asking RAP to come in again for some really open discussions with all of our students in an age-appropriate way, helping them to address some of their worries – but in the meantime their website is a good starting point.
http://therapproject.co.uk/