HEAD’S HIGHLIGHTS (SPEECH DAY 2021)
3 and Year 6 plays, Founder’s Day celebrations and Sports Day. A very different term but beautifully sets up our hopeful return to full ‘normality’ in September. I would like to pay tribute to the huge support and work of the Friends of Dulwich College. They have brought the parents body together to support the junior School with its charity mission, social events and helping with logistics (through social media communication). I would like to thank all of those who have been involved but particular all of the reps and the coordinators (esp. Sophia M, Lucy M, Fiona M, Nicole S, Jenny C, Bhaveni K) and finally to Jane M who has been so thoughtful, supportive and hard working in her leadership of the Junior School FDC. We also say goodbye to several fabulous staff in the Junior School this year. Sylvia Hall has been a calm professional in our After School team for the last two years and leaves us to take up a TA position at DUCKS. Jacob Allen has been a hugely committed Graduate Assistant Teacher and has completed his PGCE with us, before taking on a PE and Games role at the Central Foundation Academy in North London. Alice Alderman leaves us after five years in our Art and DT department to pursue her first love as an illustrator and writer of children’s books. Her commitment to the boys and their art has inspired so many and her passion of sustainability has led to many initiatives in the Junior School. Finally, Hazel Knight leaves us after six years as Deputy Head and being our pastoral lead. She has really revolutionised so many aspects of our provision and care. She has been a huge support to us all and to me personally, and we wish her the best of luck as she relocates with her young family to Cambridge to start a new role teaching A Level Psychology at the Perse School. The staff in the Junior School are the foundation of why we provide such levels of education and care. The team (teaching staff and operations staff) are filled with pride in their school, committed to their professionalism, their proactive creativity to overcome any challenges. As individuals they all stepped up a gear this year and had a superb sense of mutual support and camaraderie. Many people have commented to me about what a tough year we must have had. In many ways it was, but with this amazing staff and being part of such a supportive College, we come away tired but proud of what we have achieved this year. We have always put the pupils first, accepted no compromises and ensured that this year has been a Win-Win game for all.
■ Over the last few weeks I have introduced the boys to the concept of a Zero-Sum Game. The idea that in some games one person or team wins or gains something, but the other team or person loses the exact same amount, and so when added together the sum of the gains and the losses is zero. Extending that we have looked at different sports and situations where there is truly zero-sum games (e.g. conflict and war, or extreme behaviours of prejudice and inequality) and where there can be Win-Win scenarios where everyone gains from a situation. Over the past year we have been confronted by some huge challenges and situations of adversity. As I reflect on those challenges I can see how many positives we have managed to gain, and negatives we have reduced, turning zero-sum situations to win- win situations. We have reduced the compromises, thought creatively and gone the extra mile, so that all boys can benefit, no aspect of education or pastoral care has been left behind, and in every situation ‘good will come of this’. It has been a year of three differing terms. The Michaelmas term started with a return to school but in bubbles, no assemblies, no fixtures, no trips and the use of Teams for all Home Learning. We had a superb House competition run by the members of Mrs Knight’s Amnesty Club on celebrating 100 Great Black Britons in conjunction with Black History Month. Then came Lockdown 2.0. Remote Learning returned but having absorbed the lessons from the summer term we upped our game another notch with more live lessons, clubs, flexibility, technology and apps. The Young Shakespeare Company came in, author visits continued, Chess Club thrived, and online music concerts were hugely popular. The feedback was very positive and the boys returned in March full of confidence and slotted back straight into their daily routines. March saw the emergence of the Everyone’s Invited movement, and this has been taken fully onboard by all of us at the College. It has caused us some very deep reflection to ensure we develop real empathy and understanding in the boys and realise their responsibilities in their lives. We’ll see many refinements of our provision and build on the work we have been doing over many years. In particular we’ll have increased connections, activities and projects with JAGS and Sydenham High next year. As we returned in the summer term we took on the Win-Win ethos of going ‘Forward to School’ (rather than ‘Back to School’). We had learned so much through Remote Learning that we could bring that to our new term and so not necessarily return to the old practices from before. We were ambitious in getting all our pupils onto residentials but also having a Great Exhibition, Year
Dr Griffiths
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