I return to this snippet of scripture pretty regularly. I’ve probably cited it here before too. I’ve quite possibly told you that I adopted it as our house motto when I was a boarding housemaster. Part of my leaving present was a lovely church pew bearing this biblical writing as a gilded inscription. It seems important to remind ourselves of it regardless of whether or not last week’s Westminster attack was an act of terror or one man’s actions:

I came across this list last week, some of them are a little too ‘classic’ (a euphemism for old-fashioned in my daughter’s ears) for today’s tweens/teens ploughing through The Hunger Games and the Twilight saga. But I like what is said about teaching children about 'mitigating mistakes, learning from loss, and overcoming adversity,’ in encouraging students to adopt a growth mindset. And from what I hear, those dystopian trilogies dominating the bookshelves of Waterstone’s branches country-wide (even if a colleague in a local rival school has banned some of these, they are still available in our library!) encourage this approach too … I’d be interested to learn of more such titles from students, perhaps some of our young readers and our librarians could compile a more up to date list for us!

The thrust of this piece is that heroes are not perfect. Batman et al alongside some of the more ‘ordinary’ characters in these novels champion what is good, while living with their own human flaws and limitations; and so the message is that children should feel inspired to seek to be heroes - through good deeds and acts of kindness - and role models themselves in spite of what may seem to hold them back.

I haven’t spent most of my adult life  listening to Bowie to allow this to go by unnoticed.

Again, worth another look.

As we roll like chocolate eggs down the hill towards Easter, the end of term leaves me little time to write more. I’m in the middle of topping and tailing reports - rather than a boiled egg - and writing a speech for the Chairman’s Dinner tomorrow evening. Everyone is extremely busy at this point in the term.

The dinner tomorrow will be an opportunity to thank our outgoing Chairman formally and reflect on the year at Freemen’s. Staff and supporters of the school join us up in town to give thanks for what we have enjoyed together. And there is much for which to be grateful.

I’ll be signing off now until after the holidays. As you and your families approach Easter, I wish you all a restful and reflective time … unless your household will be abuzz with those public exam preparations … in which case, good luck keeping them inspired and motivated.