This weekend is Prize Day! 

It is a day full of celebration and recognition of the huge amount of work that students have done over the last year, key stages or even their entire school-career.

It is - for many of our oldest students - the end of an ‘era’ at Rossall School. And it is, invariably, a time for the odd tear between the cheers and hugs and celebrations.

This Thursday marks the eightieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, which occurred on 8th May, 1945. The war in the Pacific was to rage on for another three months and was only brought to a conclusion with the dropping of atomic weapons on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  The Second World War resulted in a devastating loss of human life. Estimates vary, but it is thought that up to sixty million people were killed. Many of those who lost their lives were civilians and they fell victim to aerial bombardment, famine, imprisonment, disease and many other depredations associated with the pursuit of total war. Anti-Semitism led to the genocide of over six million Jews and many other minorities were also persecuted during this period. Over five million German soldiers died during the Second World War and the bombing of cities such as Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. When the guns fell silent, it was estimated that there were seven million more women than men in Germany. Such was the cost of the war. 

“The new Pope has a degree in mathematics. 

He doesn’t understand sin. 

He understands cos.”

I can only apologise for the joke - blame it on social media - but I could not help but giggle when I read it while trying to find some more sensible information about the newly appointed Pope Leo XIV.

The start of May is a difficult time for Rossallians. Not only do many of their international friends enjoy a day off school back home on 1st May (and it was a glorious day to be honest), but they also ‘miss out’ on the Monday Bank Holiday and get to attend school instead, while many of their neighbours (and their parents?) have a day off. 

Parents often love to tell anecdotes about their children, and when you are the child in question that can often be embarrassing and occasionally enlightening. Apparently, my most used phrase as a toddler was “I will do it by myself”. Now, read into that what you will but I am afraid that I know that this phrase rings true for me as an adult as much as it did when I was a child. I hate to feel incapable, I can be terrible at asking for help and I can be quite obstinate about receiving and responding to advice. I have a sense that I should authentically own the decisions that I make and that I must be capable enough to look after myself in all situations. 

After graduating from Rossall last year I decided to take a gap year and spent 10 weeks volunteering with children in Arusha, Tanzania. I am beyond grateful for every moment of this adventure, since it allowed me to learn so much about the lives and the culture of the people there. It was truly the most eye opening and at the same time most challenging experience of my life. 

80 million!

That is the number of Easter eggs sold every single year in the UK. 

80 million Easter eggs, which translates to almost 29,000,000kg of chocolate. 

That is a lot of chocolate.

80 million!

That is the number of Easter eggs sold every single year in the UK. 

80 million Easter eggs, which translates to almost 29,000,000kg of chocolate. 

That is a lot of chocolate.

 Bill Ashton was a truly remarkable man, and we should feel enormously proud of the fact that he was a Rossallian. Born in 1936, Bill was the son of Eric Ashton, who owned a bakery business in Blackpool. His mother died when he was just seven years old. When Bill joined Rossall School in 1950, he took up the saxophone and clarinet. An outstanding scholar, Bill left Rossall in 1955 for Oxford, where he studied modern languages at St Peter’s College.

Have you ever seen one of those memes that make you feel really old?

 “Someone said ‘30 years ago’ and I thought they meant the 70’s - but they actually meant 1995 - and now I need to lie down!”

One of the first people I met when I moved to England was a young man who told me he worked for ‘Comic Relief’. Now, as I was in the middle of an English degree, I was only too familiar with the use of ‘comic relief’ and had some firm favourites amongst the Shakespearean characters responsible for said ‘comic relief’. But that hardly constituted a job, let alone one that might generate a salary.

Stephen Graham’s searing Netflix drama Adolescence has, quite deservedly,  garnered rave reviews. It is by no means an easy watch. At its centre lies an act of unspeakable violence committed by a thirteen-year-old boy who has become both radicalised and lost in an online vortex of misogyny, pornography and violence. It is a gut-wrenching and unflinching portrayal of every parent’s worst nightmare. It grapples with the question of what we teach boys - both at home and at school. It would be easy to imagine that the sort of toxic masculinity espoused by ‘influencers’ such as Andrew Tate has little impact when measured alongside the positive impact of growing up in a loving family home.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Andrew McBride as the next Head of Rossall. Andrew is currently Deputy Head, Co-Curricular of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. In that role for the past three years, he has been instrumental in taking RGS's co-curricular provision to a level which matches its enviably high academic one. Educated in the maintained sector in County Durham, he has a 2.1 in Sport, Health and Exercise from Durham University and an MA in Education from Northumbria University.

“I made you wonderful!”

That is this year’s theme for the World Day of Prayer, which we celebrated in chapel last week, just before International Women’s Day at the weekend. 

World Day of Prayer is a wonderful international and ecumenical event, which enables us all to hear the thoughts of women from across the world, including their hopes, concerns and prayers. It is also a call to action for global peace and justice - starting with the girls and women in our own school.

The name Denis Wick may not be known to you unless you are a brass player, but if you are familiar with the opening titles of Star Wars, then you will have heard his dazzlingly brilliant playing. For more than thirty years, (1957-1988),  Denis was the London Symphony Orchestra’s principal trombonist. Alongside the legendary trumpeter Maurice Murphy, Denis was responsible for the gloriously distinctive sound of the LSO brass which had a reputation for power and virtuosity.

This morning, some of us took these words from Matthew’s gospel to heart and launched our ‘Parent Prayer Group’ for all things Rossall.

It was a lovely opportunity to take a few minutes before heading into the business of the day to get together with other parents - and to see that many of us share similar joys and pleasures as well as troubles and concerns for our little (and not so little) ones.

Failure is often seen as something to avoid, a sign of weakness or inadequacy. Yet, it is an essential part of the learning process and personal growth. The fear of failure can hold us back, preventing us from taking risks or trying new things. However, when we reframe failure as an opportunity to learn, we begin to see its true value.

"The North Star (Pole Star)...!!!

It's a beautiful star.....somewhat isolated in the sky, and has important roles to play: in astronomy and navigation, not the least...

On Wednesday 12th February, we went on a Classics Department trip to London. We set off early in the morning, taking a relatively short train journey into the city. When we arrived, we walked over to the British Museum, taking in the sights of the city along the way

Happy Valentine’s Day!

There is nothing quite like the shout of ‘Happy Valentine’s Day, Miss!’ to begin the last day of the half-term. I am not a great follower of Valentine’s traditions, but this still made me smile. So do the cards, flowers and Instagram posts that some of our students flood each other with.