Over The Rainbow

Apologies to regular readers of this blog as it has been some time since I was last in touch. (My wife tells me she looks at it occasionally if she is not too busy.) School business has taken me away from Arnold a little too often recently, although a trip to London for a UCST Heads' meeting did give me the chance to get to Rosslyn Park to watch our boys in the National U16 Sevens. I made the rash decision to use public transport to travel from where I was staying in central London and after two tube journeys, a train ride and a supposed shortcut through Richmond Park (huge herds of deer!), I arrived needing resuscitation! Initially this came in the form of a solid first half performance against Abingdon before the game slipped away from us. This wasn't before our rather "direct" play gave some very good opponents a scare; with a hand-off like a hammer blow Tom Jepson left defenders trailing in his wake on the way to the try line. After giving their all and after succumbing to squad-sapping injuries the boys found the going too tough and made their way home to Blackpool, no doubt thinking ahead to next year's competition.

We have held two "Breakfast(s) with Barry" in recent weeks. These have been principally aimed at Junior School parents so that they have a chance to visit the Senior School and meet me and my colleagues. The lure of bacon sandwiches and Danish pastries has proved tempting to many and we hope to hold more of these events next term, extending the invitation to parents of children in other parts of the school.

Our new Head of Drama, Faye Horrocks, has quickly made her mark and her ears must be burning, so many complimentary comments have I received from pupils and parents alike. I went along to see her AS group perform Kettle Blue last week and was immediately taken with the quality of the performances. Well done to them and well done too to Ian Morton's classicists who staged two Greek plays recently. Directed by two Sixth Form students, Claire Harbourne and Lizzie Salmon, Media and The Thesmophoriasuzae provided superb entertainment.

I hope you know by now that Claire has made it to Dorothy Farm in Andrew Lloyd Webber's search for the new lead in Over The Rainbow. As I write this we do not know if she will be chosen for the next round. A genuinely nice person, our Head Girl is immensely talented; do give her your vote if you can.

I know Claire is trying not to think about her A-levels at the moment. Perhaps the rest of the U6 are taking the same view but they really should be planning to use the Easter holiday to prepare for the forthcoming examinations. For those who fail to meet their university offers, this year looks like being tougher than ever with Clearing offering very little of worth to those that need a place. Better to do the work now and get the grades required.....

Those of you who have heard me sing will know that I am not very musical. Nevertheless, this has never stopped me from appreciating the talents of our young musicians and this week was no exception when I felt privileged to be present at the annual Choral Concert. David Smyth's report elsewhere on the website paints a wonderful picture of this stand-out event in the life of the school - but you really had to be there! It means a great deal to me that the choir is made up of so many parents, friends, staff and pupils and that the orchestra is too. Sixteen year old Year 11 pupil Alexander Card performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto quite superbly and with both his parents and his sister performing we had an unbeatable "Hand of Cards"! (Sorry)

It was also a great pleasure to hear Lauren Au of Year 12 singing the mezzo-soprano role in The Nelson Mass. Singing alongside professional soloists must have been frightening but this hugely talented young woman showed not a trace of nerves and gave a very accomplished performance. Not to be outdone by the House of Cards (sorry again), Lauren's parents also performed in the orchestra and the choir; well done and thank you to them and to all the others who made it such a great night. On Friday when I chatted to those youngsters that had taken part I could tell they had been moved and inspired, surely what it is all about.

In a quiet moment beforehand Julian Ross and I chatted about what has been achieved musically over the last few years. His energy and talent were brilliantly showcased on Thursday and sitting in the audience his successor, Daniel Chandler, learned what a hard act he will be following. He is more than up to the challenge though and we will all be excited to see where he will take Arnold's music in the next few years. Daniel is one of a number of staff that will join us in September and I will send parents more details of these appointments in due course. Reassuringly, we continue to attract high calibre recruits to the staff common room.

I trust you will be able to enjoy some time with your children over the holiday - hopefully not in a queue for a BA flight - and that they return bright eyed for the new term. I am sure Mark Evans' cricketers will be raring to go, so fingers crossed for a long hot summer.

Kind regards

Barry Hughes

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Date: Saturday 27/03/2010