Thanks to the 11+ interviews which take place this time each year, we have been busy welcoming parties of potential new Upper Prep (years 7 and 8) Harrodians to the school over the past few weeks. For visiting children and parents, the interview sometimes marks their first or second visit to the school so I’m always interested to gather their first impressions.
For some visitors, I’ve discovered, it’s children at play on the pitches and wide open green spaces of our riverside site that first catch the eye. Others remark on the welcome aroma of coffee wafting from our cosy school café. With preparations for our Performing Arts productions and Battle of the Bands events reaching their climax, this year it was the muffled melodies flowing out of the Music Block and the sight of young actors busy rehearsing in our Theatre and Drama Studio that made the biggest impact.
Such visits do provide a vivid snapshot of the school’s unique setting and atmosphere, but it’s important to remember that the view they provide of Harrodian is inevitably incomplete.
The variety of the many less visible school activities that are regular fixtures in my diary are a reminder that some of the key ingredients that make this school a special place in which to learn are not always easily discovered.
James Hooke, Headmaster
Take for example, the lecture delivered by Philosophy and Religious Studies teacher Sam Wardell (see picture below) to an audience largely made up of Senior and Sixth Form pupils in late January at a meeting of the Thomson Society. Delivered by invited members of our staff, our Thomson lecture series offers teachers an open brief to address any subject they fancy. As you can see from the sample of four of the brilliant event posters created by our Head of Design, Jake Murray, (see above) that can mean everything from the Northern Ireland peace process to Norwegian death metal. Mr Wardell also took full advantage of his licence to roam. Entitled Are you an Illusion?, his lecture consisted of a dazzling discourse on the elusive nature of reality that drew on references as diverse as Descartes and Derren Brown.
Not all of our activities are quite as challenging, but the boldness Mr Wardell brought to his theme is identifiably Harrodian in character. At every level of the School, our children are encouraged to push themselves, to take risks and to be courageous and confident in the way that they express themselves. In the past weeks, I’ve been intrigued by the inventiveness of writing tasks created for Pre-Prep Literacy Week that motivated children to learn instruction writing through board game making and dressing up, and impressed by the eloquence of finalists taking part in 8-13s Public Speaking Contests and their ability to express powerful views on subjects ranging from the danger of plastic pollution to the joys of singing.
Given such foundations, it is natural that as they approach the final stage of their school career, a spirit of intellectual adventure has become second nature to so many Harrodians. Sixth Form life has been enriched enormously in recent years, by the growing success of our Debating Society and the foundation of the Model United Nations group, both of which continue to surge in popularity. On February 24th for example Harrodian has entered three teams in the UCL Schools Debating Cup.
In the past, these vital aspects of Harrodian’s personality might not have made a huge mark on public consciousness. One of the benefits of this website is that from now on we will be be able to give our hidden strengths the showcase that they deserve.