This has been a remarkable week and yet I could not be more proud of our fantastic staff and incredible children. The true spirit of a community truly emerges during difficult times. Rossall has proved itself, once again, to be resilient, compassionate and endlessly optimistic. The cheerfulness with which everyone has adapted to a very different reality is quite astounding. That Rossallians do so with a determination to support each other and with a quiet resolve to ensure that life really does ‘go on’ is reflective of the ethos and values of this community. We are a school set apart by an indomitable strength and wonderful spirit of kindness.
I am humbled and honoured to lead such a community and to be supported by so many outstanding colleagues. All my colleagues are committed to ensuring that our children benefit from the best possible quality of education regardless of the circumstances. Running as both a day school and a boarding school has provided us with an invaluable opportunity to ensure that our remote learning strategy is robust and workable. It has allowed us to effectively model a modern and dynamic approach to learning in such a way that we can be absolutely confident that teaching and learning will continue unabated should we be compelled to operate remotely. We are well placed given that we have embraced iPads, Google Classroom and video-conferencing technology. It means that we can be confident that if circumstances serve to place a physical distance between us, then at least we are still able to operate as one educational family bounded by common goals and shared ideals. The knowledge that what unites us is far stronger than what divides us is extraordinarily powerful in these times. Community is about much more about than just a sense of place.
I am sure that you would like to join me in congratulating Mr Lee Cox and Mrs Caroline Cox on the occasion of their marriage, which took place on Monday afternoon. We celebrate their love for each other and we look forward to welcoming Caroline back to School after her surgery.
Life does go on despite the unfolding global crisis. This morning, I woke up to the news that my sister-in-law and her husband have just welcomed their fourth son into this world. Having informed her, with some authority, that this baby would definitely be a girl, I am delighted to report that I have maintained my near 100% failure rate in terms of guessing the gender of our unborn babies. Anyway, welcome to Quinn Jack Fahy!
One of my happiest moments this week was to see the Rossall Kitchen full of students cooking away on Sunday afternoon. It reminds me how lucky we are to have such facilities for our students and that whilst our days are consumed with strategic planning and solving logistical conundrums, our boarders busy themselves sharing recipes and fretting about why their sponges are not rising. Sports and exercise feature heavily in our lives at the moment and it is great to see the sports hall being used to such great effect during weekends – especially given that all fixtures are cancelled at this time.
Exciting new partnership with Leiston Abbey and Pro Corda
I am delighted to announce that we have recently established a partnership with Pro Corda (the National Chamber Music School) which is based at Leiston Abbey in Suffolk. Over the forthcoming years, this will enable us to offer cultural and field study courses in a very different part of the UK and much closer to London. This partnership is something that we have been exploring for some time and I am thrilled that we are now in a position to develop a project which will add a fabulous new dimension to Rossall School. We will release more information about this venture in due course.
Finally, thank you so much for all the messages of support and encouragement that you have sent to my colleagues and me. We appreciate your kindness more than words can express. The commitment that we have made to all members of this community is that we will ensure that teaching and learning continues during this time.
