So said Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher of Ephesus around 500 BC. This was undoubtedly the theme that both the Chairman of Governors and I shared at Prizegiving and is evident in the newly announced changes to GCSEs. Education is constantly evolving and this can be a little daunting at times for teachers and schools. However I firmly believe that change is an aspect of our lives we should fully embrace and celebrate rather than fear the unknown. The skills and qualities we want our boys and girls to have are to be bold, adaptable, inquisitive, confident, show initiative, resourceful, courageous and emotionally intelligent. These attributes will equip them for the modern world, for the changes ahead and we must take the lead.
We should always endeavour to balance the best aspects of tradition with innovation; young people are the future, the future is always ahead of us and we are always trying to catch up – inevitably therefore change will be constant as we try to look forward whilst always remembering from whence we came!
My first Westholme Prizegiving was a joy to experience and I felt immensely proud of the orchestra, choir and of course, prize winners. But there was a deeper success story that underpinned the whole evening; the inspirational talk by our honoured guest Kate James and hilarious speech from Lucy and Harriet as Heads of School. Thank you to staff, students, Governors and parents for your support, enthusiasm and contribution to this uplifting event.
With our eye on the future it was good to see budding entrepreneurs from Westholme and other invited schools participating in an Enterprise Day as they worked on developing a mobile phone app. The standard was impressive and congratulations to the students from Blessed Trinity who were our winners. Equally impressive were the Leyland Band who performed a world class concert on Thursday and hopefully inspired Westholme musicians from the orchestra and swing band who acted as the very successful support act on this occasion.
As many nervous Year 6 pupils sat our 11+ Examination I wish them all well and hope they have done their best! At the other end of the scale I was privileged to attend a Maths workshop for Key Stage 1 parents which made me reflect on my own school days. I confess I was a genuine ‘Mathaphobic’ at school and yet the ingenious methods and encouraging approach of our Billinge House staff would have undoubtedly changed that! They showed how Maths is there in all aspects of our everyday life and I came away wishing I could go back to school now…how things have changed for the better!
‘The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change?’ – Undoubtedly yes and how exciting and refreshing that is for us all.
Lynne M Horner
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