From the Founding Head Master

Transcription

1 From the Founding Head Master Friday, 2nd June 2017 Dear Parents, community of schools does also tend to make this an easier undertaking. It has been a short week at Harrow following the Dragon Boat holiday. Yet there has been no shortage of things going on, with the end-of-year examinations and the visit of the Bigband from the Albert Einstein Gymnasium near Stuttgart in south west Germany. The music was tremendous, what a sound they made, and it will have inspired all of our own young musicians. Good teachers bring out the very best in Harrovians and, putting on my historian s hat again, I can point to one great figure of the past, Lord Byron, who loved his time at the school and wrote of his experiences there. This is one verse of his that pretty much says it all I am in fact writing this On the Hill from Bangkok, where I have been attending an HR conference for all the Harrow international schools. The single aim of the conference is ensuring that we continue to attract the very best teachers to the name Harrow, whether it is in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing or Bangkok. This is of course at the forefront of our efforts to take a Harrow education to greater heights. A related aspect of this challenge is to keep the great staff we already have, and this is very much a Shanghai-wide issue, as our competitor schools again look to be losing a significant proportion of their existing staff. I enjoy working and living in Shanghai, and see being at Harrow in our wonderful city as the pinnacle of my career, and this is the sentiment I want to instill in all our staff. Having several other very successful schools in the Harrow The streams where we swam, and the fields where we fought; Again I revisit the hills where we sported, The school where, loud warn d by the bell, we

2 resorted, To pore o er the precepts by Pedagogues taught. I wonder what Byron would make of our musical bells! I am a great believer in self-improvement and, in common with all the Harrow schools, I will be circulating to you in the next fortnight a parental questionnaire, which I urge you to fill in. Tell us where you think we are doing well, and, equally important, tell us where you think we can improve. It s all part of a meaningful community and the easiest way of taking the school forward is doing it together. Meanwhile, I hope to see as many of you as possible at Sports Day tomorrow, and don t forget to bring a hat and sun screen. It won t be as hot as it is here in Bangkok, thank goodness, but it could still be very hot. Best wishes, David Cook Chess On Sunday, 28th May, the Harrow chess team travelled across the city to YCIS Puxi to do battle as one of thirty schools in the Shanghai Chess Academy Dragon Boat Chess Tournament. Despite a slow start, things soon got quite exciting as we crept up the rankings across seven rounds of matches. We were in 4th place entering the final round of games, but missed the bronze medals by 0.5 points another win would have done it. Not bad for a first outing though. Special congratulations go to William (Year 8), our top scorer who finished 14th out of all 106 competitors and Flora (Year 6) who snatched 3rd best female! They were ably supported by Tianyi (Year 6), Kimberly (Year 8) and not forgetting Henry (Year 3), who all represented Harrow magnificently throughout the day. Summer Examinations The temptation to dive into the Ducker, as exhorted to in one of the Harrow school songs sung by our School Choir at a recent performance, probably became even more appealing this week. Nor was it due to the soaring temperatures. Our first set of end-of-year examinations took place in our examinations hall on the 5th floor. The pupils concluded that they were not as stressful as many had feared though maybe they will change their minds once the results are published! Well done to all our students for their impeccable behaviour during the examinations.

3 German Bigband Comes to Harrow On Wednesday Harrow welcomed the forty talented young musicians who make up the Bigband at the Albert Einstein Gymnasium in Boeblingen, near Stuttgart, in south west Germany. The Bigband are currently on a tour of China and we were delighted that they were able to find the time to visit Harrow. Although it is not a specialist music school, the Albert Einstein Gymnasium has a very similar music programme to Harrow, as all pupils at the school are encouraged to learn an instrument and to take part in music ensembles. The Bigband performed a concert for the Lower School pupils and another for the Prep and Senior School pupils. They also gave our pupils an opportunity to perform with the band and learn about Jazz improvisation. Our sincere thanks go to the pupils and their music teachers, Mr Johannes Stephan and Mr Oliver Dermann. The next performance by the Harrow Wind Band will be at Churchill Songs, our inaugural Speech Day, on Saturday, 17th June.

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6 KEY DIARY DATES Sports Fixtures/Training Saturday, 3rd June: Harrow Shanghai Sports Day Eccer, from 10:00am to 4:00pm, on the Harrow playing fields. All pupils from Years 1 to 11. (The Kerry Hotel, Pudong, will be offering refreshments for sale) Thursday, 15th June: Mike Gatting Cricket Festival at Dulwich (all day), Years 3, 5 and 6 Numicon Workshop Thursday, 15th June, starting at 2.45pm in the Library - for Year 1, 2 and 3 parents Informal Music Concert Friday, 16th June, starting at 2:00pm in the Lecture Theatre This will involve performances from Pre-Prep, Prep and Senior School soloists Upcoming Assemblies Friday, 9th June - Pre-Prep Celebration Assembly, starting at 9.05am in the Lecture Theatre - Prep/ and Senior Head Master s Assembly, starting at 2:00pm in the Lecture Theatre (parents welcome) Upcoming Open Days Starting at 10:00am in the Lecture Theatre Saturday, 10th June Thursday, 15th June These are open to all prospective parents Churchill Songs Harrow s Inaugural Speech Day Saturday, 17th June, starting at 2:00pm in the Outdoor Pavilion, Parkyard Hotel, No. 699 Bibo Road (ticketed event) Celebrating Harrow s First Year Skyline Cocktails and Canapés Saturday, 24th June, starting at 6:00pm at Mortons in Lujiazui (ticketed event)