Unlocking potential

Posted on: 27 Jun 2018 by Weston Green School

The year is drawing to a close and it has been another wonderful year of accomplishment for your children - a glance across the school at any time will be enough to acknowledge their high attainment in a rich variety of fields. How is that accomplished? How do we manage to see and then grow such talent, unlocking each and every child’s potential when each one is unique, with differing burgeoning talent and with, therefore, such a variety of gifting in any one class, let alone the entire school?

The answer, I think, lies in establishing two vital things: firstly, in creating the right infrastructure and then fuelling that with inspirational teaching; secondly, in ensuring a nurturing environment which sees each individual as a unique person and which not just allows but actively encourages that talent to grow. In practice, this means reflecting carefully on our provision. This is why we have art scholars, why we enter regional and national sports events, why we run a chess club, why we collapse the timetable on a Thursday afternoon and give expression to the children’s many passions and talents, why (in part at least) we run residential adventure trips and day visits, why we have a drama production in each Key Stage, why we do LAMDA and English Speaking Board exams, why we have an orchestra and teatime concerts...I could go on. It is this varied weekly diet, underpinned by increasing subject teaching towards the top of the school, as those skills become more apparent and more developed, which feeds those passions, interests and gifts and which enable us to then celebrate the glorious achievements of the children - primarily, but not solely, in the academic field.

It is a delight and privilege on Speech Day to recognise the achievements of the older pupils and we shall do so again in two weeks’ time. It is a reminder to me of the vital importance of sustaining that focus on each individual child and of getting the structure of the week right so we continue to see such impressive accomplishments by your amazing children. May it ever be thus.