Emotions and emotional literacy are a very important part of life in the Junior School. Learning about them, recognising them in ourselves and others. You will remember that one of my favourite quotes which I used several years ago on Speech Day is that of Maya Angelou. Head’s Highlights (Speech Day 2017) Outside events around the world and in London have produced many emotions. They have been challenging for us all and difficult to explain. Next year we will introduce Philosophy, Current Affairs and more Citizenship to our formal curriculum. In Philosophy Club recently it was interesting to look ahead to the College Free Learning Week - Dulwich Political in October. We examined the question of ‘what is politics?’ We asked lots of questions about what it means to be a civil society, to have governance and ‘when does politics start?’ Was there always politics, what was it like back in the middle ages or ancient times, who was in charge of running society and overall, we came to the conclusion that basically politics is what happens and how you run a country without killing each other. A very deep and meaningful thing but for boys in the Junior School this was amazing. We also recently had our Magna Carta assembly looking back to when the authority of the Kings of England could be challenged and when the basis of our current government was set up. This is really getting boys to think about what and who we are. achievements, happiness and in the community. With this, I have a confession to make, I get quite emotional when I see these amazing things. Between you and me this can involve shedding a little tear. I try to hide it but often it’s quite difficult. When I see boys performing brilliantly, or observe some extraordinary happiness or when I’m thanking boys for their performances I always find it very moving. Thinking back to the Year 3 Play, Years 3 and 6 verse speaking, these are all events where I’ve had a look across at some of my colleagues and have found it very difficult to keep from wiping away a tear. I know there will be some today, I’m sure. [Postscript – after this speech the School Captain’s Speech was so emotional that he broke down in tears and gave the Vice-Captain a big hug!] Academically, 11+ results were again very strong with an improvement being seen in the boys’ scores year on year. English results were outstanding and maths results were good too particularly in how all boys are now reaching a high level. In our second annual Academic Enrichment Symposium we teamed up with the girls from James Allen’s Prep School with the theme being ‘PATTERN AND CHAOS’. We had our first of many links with Sydenham High for a Year 5 debate and we will develop this further next year and are looking to do a Model United Nations. The whole College free learning week this year was Dulwich Linguistic. Each day had a different language focus with activities in German, Mandarin, Spanish, French and Italian including a fencing demonstration in Italian. Next year we look forward to Dulwich Political. But with that sadness out there, the dominant emotion in the Junior School, this year as always, must be joy; joy in ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how youmade them feel.’
Primary Maths Challenge. The Junior School film club won the Dulwich College International film competition, - D’Oscars, with their entry, which they described as a ‘spy thriller’, on the theme of Dulwich Wonderland. Gardening club had a winning entry in the RHS Campaign for Schools Gardening competition. In the Dulwich and West Norwood Banner Competitions- Gussie Coulter, Dougal Littlewood and Wilf Edwards In House competitions, as ever a core part of school life, particular highlights were the House Photography competition and House DT in which boys had to transform a matchbox. Then we had the first House Tennis competition and, for the second year, House Aquathlon. The chess team had multiple successes reaching the National Semi Finals at Pontins once more with Jai Singh Chaturvedi going on to represent Kent. There were trips, visits and seminars for all Year Groups to many historical, artistic, local, theatre and educational venues as well as many author visits. In May the Junior School led the whole school’s sustainable travel initiative, ‘The Big Shift’ in which we made pledges to improve the way in which we travelled to school and also promoted cycling and road safety. In Music, as ever, there were an enormous number of concerts, playing of instruments and singing. From ‘pop in and play’, open concerts, music assemblies, which we introduced this year, the Junior School Christmas Celebrations and Junior School concerts. Then many Junior School boys performed in the concert at St John’s Smith Square, the College singing and piano concerts (including John Pedersen getting a highly commended in the top category for the College). Then, most impressively, were the 13 Junior School boys who went on the College choir tour of Washington, Philadelphia and New York. In Sport we are proud to say how our boys are involved in and play everything on the best facilities with expert coaching. All boys have represented teams in multiple sports across all the terms in all the Year Groups but there have been individual successes as well. In cross country, rugby, triathlon (where Christo Chilton retained his National Prep Schools title) and while we rarely focus on individual success, however when it has been this good we should recognise the amazing achievements of the U11 swimmers who became the National Prep School and National Schools U11 swimming champions. In Charities , our termly fundraising raised money for Roald Dahl’s Children’s Charity, the Brixton and Norwood Foodbank, St Christopher’s Hospice and NSPCC. We raised over £11000 this year including £7500 from the NSPCC danceathon alone. In Drama , all boys had some great opportunities to perform, either in the Christmas Celebrations or Form assemblies. But also the whole of Year 3s production of ‘Mummy Returns’, The Year 5s ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ and also the stunning Year 6 production of the ‘Lion King’. Finally, huge personal thanks to all the staff that have made this happen. They are wonderful individuals and a team who really make the Junior School such a great place for the boys and a fun place to come to every day. I could say ‘work’ but it never feels like ‘work’. I am so lucky to be in charge of them. This is not just our wonderful teachers but also every member of staff behind the scenes, the office staff, our cleaners, maintenance staff, kitchen staff, caretakers, our librarian, learning support department, and teaching assistants. On behalf of everyone a huge thank you for your efforts and talents.
There were many quizzes which included the maths team getting getting to the London finals and 10 boys went through in the
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