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6 May
 My highlights: This week I have four. First, Bag-a-Book Week last week was a tremendous success. This is held in the Spawforth Library and it is part of our strategy of fostering the reading culture at Merchiston. Indeed, I am delighted with this facility, the way in which it is looked after by our librarian, Mrs Williams, and with how the boys use it. It is one of the many gems on the Merchiston campus. Secondly, the Whole School 175th Anniversary photo was great fun! Every pupil was wearing the 1833-2008 tie and the only mistake I made was that, on hearing a considerable body of the ‘kirk’ humming the School song, I did not allow everyone to sing it! However, we were worried about the number of people on the stands! Every member of the School community was invited to participate in the photo. Thirdly, the Information Morning on Saturday was fascinating to watch, though I say so myself! In particular, I enjoyed watching our boys acting as guides and activity organisers. Fourthly and finally, last week’s Piping and Drumming Concert, with 33 pipers and 26 drummers taking part, was excellent. However, the quietest and most significant moment was welcoming Christopher and Michael from the Royal Blind School, Edinburgh, to the event; Christopher joined our Pipe Band in playing Amazing Grace and Highland Cathedral (and indeed, he finished the latter by playing the solo). I found this extremely moving and it just illustrated how remarkable these two young men are in overcoming disability, and the wonderful sense of vocation, compassion and professionalism of their carers, but what was so stunning was to experience how music joins all people
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29 April
23 AprilMy thoughts: The first week of term has certainly been action-packed! Moreover, it has been mighty, mighty cold! However, it is a joy to see and feel the warmth entering the air; leaves are appearing on the trees, and accordingly the campus is beginning to look even more beautiful. In my Headmaster’s Assembly, among other things, I thought it was extremely important to remind the Fifth Form, and the Lower and Upper Sixth, that whilst they are facing very challenging weeks as they prepare for, and indeed sit their public examinations, generally speaking, if they put in the hours, working with the staff and concentrating on their revision in study hours, preps and sessions in the Spawforth Library, they will gain what they deserve. Equally, I reminded the boys that it is very difficult to ‘cheat’ examiners! In other words, if one does the former, there will be no need to attempt the latter!  My highlights: I have a mixture of private and public highlights from last week. First, Barbara and I attended the Confirmation into the Church of Scotland of Kerr, Alex, Oliver and Tom in the local Parish Church at the bottom of Colinton Village, near the Water of Leith. This was an interesting and different Service. On Sunday evening, the School held a Celebration of Confirmation Service. Our speaker on Tuesday morning was Bill Donaldson (Merchistonian, former History teacher at Merchiston and Housemaster of Chalmers West, and then Headmaster of Newcastle-under Lyme School, Staffordshire). He has now been in retirement for 20 years and in recent times he has written two prayer books: “Does Life Make Sense?” and “Light in the Darkness”. He spoke to the School about the importance of the 4 ‘F’s: faith, family, friends, and fitness of mind and body, and presented copies of “Light in the Darkness” to Kerr, Alex, Oliver and Tom (photo left). Secondly, it was wonderful to see the whole of our Fourth Form taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award expedition over the weekend. This is still a tremendous experience which challenges young people. Thirdly, on Monday it was a pleasure to welcome to Merchiston the Higher Education Careers event, which we put on in conjunction with St Margaret’s and St George’s. Finally, my private highlight: you will know from my first web diary entry of the Summer Term last week how important it is that there should be no distinction between the private and the public in terms of how our boys perform and behave. Thus, I was delighted to hear a Housemaster telling me that he was so pleased to see one of our 18-year olds asking a 10-year old from St George’s to dance at the recent Boarders Ceilidh at St George’s. A ceilidh is such an inclusive activity but it still takes a desire to include everybody for this young man to have asked such a young girl to dance, irrespective of the age difference. So, this week’s highlights are a real mixture of the spiritual, the practical, leadership and the personal.
17 April
My thoughts: As term started, the sun shone and the blossom on the trees is out! Mr Nick Blair, the Leader of the Chaplaincy Team, reminded us at my first Headmaster’s Assembly of the term that each pupil at Merchiston is receiving the gift of a wonderful education, and indeed that each day is a gift. It was my great pleasure to welcome to the School seven new pupils: Alfred (First Form), Andrew and Jack (Second Form), Adrian (Third Form), and Benjamin, Samuel and Anton (Fourth Form). We also welcomed five Summer Term exchange pupils or short-term visitors: Alvaro (from Madrid – Second Form – this is his 2nd spell at Merchiston), Jack (from The Scots College, Sydney, Australia – Shell); Hitesh (St Andrew’s College, Christchurch, New Zealand), Marcus (Lindisfarne College, New Zealand) and Mark (Michaelhouse School, South Africa) have all joined the Lower Sixth. The new arrivals were photographed after Assembly at the front of School, first on their own, and then with their guides who are so important in ensuring that these boys and young men get over any butterflies in their tummies as quickly as possibly! Finally, I welcomed to Merchiston Ms Frances Griffin, the P2B (P2Talk and P2Think) School Project Manager.
Congratulations: I congratulated Mr Adam Dickson (teacher of Design & Technology) on his marriage to Vicky during the holiday. Start of Term Message: I played to the School two very different songs: “We don’t need no education” (Pink Floyd) and “Do what you do do well (Ned Miller – 1964!). The first one epitomises the rejection of a structured education and I reminded the School how important it is that we retain our moral anchor, that we are able to distinguish right from wrong, and that we do not adopt a culture of ‘expediency’ whereby we perform when ‘on parade’ but then choose to become someone else when we are not on view. This is particularly vital when we are in group situations, especially when we might be ‘out of sight and out of mind’ of you, the parents, and indeed us, the staff! I reminded the School of my themes for the year:
Archive: Autumn 2006, Lent 2007, Summer 2007, Autumn 2007, Lent 2008 |
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My thoughts: At this week’s Headmaster’s Assembly we had two visiting speakers. The first, Bill Donaldson, spoke to the School again and presented a copy of his latest prayer book, Light in the Darkness, to confirmands Jack, Philip, Claude, Nicholas, Kit and Richard. I very much enjoyed attending the two Confirmation Services in the local kirk and in the Episcopalian church. The respective Services were very different but both exuded a real sense of faith and spirituality. I was also particularly pleased to see friends of the confirmands attending the Services to support them. Do, please, have a look at 
My congratulations: At Assembly, on the stage, we congratulated Tom and Horace (photo left) on being awarded Certificates of Distinction in the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad 2008. Having performed particularly well in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, Tom and Horace were invited to participate in the UK Mathematics Olympiad. Of this select group, 50% are awarded a Certificate of Participation, the next 25% a Certificate of Merit, and the top 25% a Certificate of Distinction. So Tom and Horace achieved this highest accolade. Furthermore, Horace’s performance at this level has placed him in the top 40 students in the UK, and he has therefore been invited to the National Mathematics Summer School in July, where the top 40 students take part in training, which leads on to the selection of the UK’s Mathematics team for the next International Olympiad. We believe this achievement is a first for a Merchiston pupil. We also congratulated Anh on gaining a Gold Award in the Chemistry Olympiad 2008; again, it was remarkable that he was selected as a ‘Top 8 in Britain’ Lower Sixth student to attend a course at Cambridge. Also, Oliver gained a Commendatory Award. I congratulated the Episcopalian confirmands on the stage, namely Philip, Claude, Richard, Jack, Nicholas and Kit. In sport, we congratulated Jack who scored 144 not out recently in the fixture against Strathallan, and he was awarded his bat! The U17 and O17 athletics teams came first in the event involving Merchiston, Fettes, Edinburgh Academy and Stewart’s Melville. Moreover, the 1XI drew with the Forty Club (they would have won but for a hail storm that arrived 7 overs from the end of the match!); the 1XI won their match against Stewart’s Melville in the 1 st Round of the Lothian Schools Cup. The 2XI won against Strathallan; and at the weekend the 1XI had a good win versus Dollar, as had the Pringle 2XI against Cargilfield, though the Pringle 1XI lost narrowly to Cargilfield. The Senior and U15 tennis teams recorded good victories in their matches against Stewart’s Melville and Heriot’s respectively. 
My thoughts: At Headmaster’s Assembly yesterday morning, it was a pleasure to hear Chris talking about the recent Geography field trip to Iceland, and Alex giving an account of the GCSE History trip to Eastern Europe. We also welcomed Dr and Mrs Cartwright and baby Orla – she received a blessing (and a bottle of champagne!). The highlight of the Assembly was the continuation of our series on 1833 and Merchiston’s 175th Anniversary, relating important events at the time of the School’s founding to specific subject disciplines. So, this morning the Head of Biology, Mr King, spoke about 
My congratulations: On the platform, I congratulated George (photo left) on coming 2nd in the U12 Scottish Schools Cross Country Championship in Kirkcaldy on Saturday, and Mark on scoring 108 not out in cricket against Edinburgh University. Again in cricket, our congratulations went to the 1st XI, the 3rd XI, the U15As, the U15Bs, the Pringle 1st and 2nd XIs, the U11s and the U9s on their wins. In tennis, I congratulated the 1st VI, the U18s and the U16s on their victories last week. 
My congratulations: I congratulated Charlie on being awarded Arts Honours for Music for his ongoing commitment to instrumental music throughout his School career, both as a guitarist and a pianist; also for his leadership of guitar groups involving junior pupils. I also congratulated Alexander, Peter, Alexander, Charles and Hector (photo left) who did extremely well to win the JP Morgan Stock Market Challenge last week; they came top out of the 24 schools competing and won a prize of £500 as they turned £15,000 into £171,000 after 5 virtual days of trading! Clearly, this might be a talent we should watch! The pupils studying PE in the Fifth Form were congratulated on the OCR examiner’s extremely complimentary comments on their performance, when he visited Merchiston last Friday. The sporting season has already started and in cricket I congratulated the 1XI on their win against Loretto, and the Pringle 2XI and the U11 XI on being successful in their matches against Edinburgh Academy. In tennis, the U18 team defeated West Lothian, the U16s won their match against Hatton Sports Club and the U14s drew against Dunfermline Tennis Club. And in the final rugby game of this academic year, the 1XV played Edinburgh BATS and won 44-7; this is now a traditional match between the Cup winners and an Edinburgh Select side. 
End of Term/Holiday Activities: I said to the School that the number of activities that took place at the end of last term and in the Easter holiday is remarkable: National Schools Sevens (Rosslyn Park), the Balgreen Primary School/Merchiston/Place2Be activity afternoon at Merchiston, the First Form trip to Paris, the Sixth Form Spanish trip to Malaga, the GCSE History trip to Eastern Europe, the ski trip to Alpe d’Huez, Mrs Hunter’s and my trip to Hong Kong, the Multi-Sports Easter Camp, the Melrose Sevens, the Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition and the Geography field trip to Iceland. I was delighted to hear from members of staff who accompanied the trips that the pupils were a joy to be with in terms of their demeanour, spirit and enthusiasm.
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