Mr King’s Blog

“getting on with it”

There are times for us all, (memories, myths and legend even), which never fail to be recalled among friends. Such events are highlights and rock bottoms, surprises and long-awaited outcomes. School days offer plenty of opportunity for this; Sports finals, first and last night nerves in the school productions, concerts, Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, leading an assembly, touring a prospective parent, and yes, exams, or rather, exam results.

Growing up, we need these peaks and troughs to paint the fabric of what life might have to offer. Together with the raging hormones and developing brain, the emotions are felt oh so keenly. They can be marvellous ecstasy and heart-breaking devastation. Thankfully, for the most part, they lack long-lasting impact on our adult lives. What a good opportunity, therefore, to road test our emotional responses and either find them adequate, or somewhat exaggerated. In schools, has society cleverly given teenagers the perfect experimental playground? Well, not really, since rather cruelly the sense of perspective and lack of dependence upon peer validation do not tend to develop until the end of those school days.

But quite apart from the halcyon days, there are the functional days. I hesitate to say mundane, since we strive to bring enjoyment and excitement to pupils’ learning every day. That said, the Fashion Show can’t be every week and nobody can scale the Brecon Beacons weekly, repeatedly putting blisters upon blisters.

It was with relief, though no real surprise, that the two trip leaders returned from Tuesday’s drenching at Hever Castle (Year 8) and Coastal Geography fieldwork (Year 11) with tales of pupils unfussed by the weather, and with a physical capacity and mental resilience to get on with the job of enjoying the experience, shared and memorable as it will be. I wonder whether the pupils were aware that they were displaying precisely the kind of character referred to by Sarah Nelson Smith, and shamelessly re-iterated in an assembly, when she said “If you have to do it, do it with good humour”.

Neither the opportunity to visit Hever Castle, nor the chance to ride the “Pickering Express” are opportunities one has to “endure”, but Croydon High School pupils will always make the most of them, regardless of the weather! There is a determination within our young people. We do not have to work hard to find it, and we do not have to do much to encourage it. I have noticed it from the moment I joined, and I know it will remain for many years to come. It is heartening.

There are times, in between highs, lows, myths and legend, when you just have to “get on with it” – and our pupils can.

Mr David King

Deputy Head (Pastoral)