Diary Dates Some of the events coming up next term


Monday 8 January Start of term


Tuesday 16 January PSFA meeting


Saturday 20 January Ceilidh


Parents, staff & friends are invited to join us for a Saturday 20 January


Back by popular demand TH


available from Junior & Senior School reception offices


7.00pm ~ late Tickets: £25


Dancing to ‘16 Strings & a Dead Goat’


TICKET PRICE INCLUDES HOT MEAL PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN DRINKS


I


Wednesday 24 January ~ Thursday 25 January


Entry Days Friday 2 February


Junior School Open Morning


Tuesday 6 February ~ Thursday 8 February


Spamalot


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have recently been teaching my Year 9 pupils about the Christmas truce of December 1914. We looked at a range of sources and


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Monday 12 February ~ Friday 16 February


Half Term


Tuesday 27 February PSFA meeting


Friday 2 March Whole School Open Morning


Friday 2 March ~ Sunday 4 March


Netball Tour


Tuesday 6 March Year 9 visit to Bletchley Rugby Sevens (U12 boys)


Thursday 8 March Rugby Sevens (U14/15 Boys)


Monday 12 March ~ Thursday 15 March


Junior School visit France


Tuesday 13 March Rugby Sevens (U13 Boys)


Wednesday 14 March Rugby Sevens (U16/18 Boys)


Thursday 15 March Rugby Sevens (U13/15/16 Girls)


Saturday 17 March Junior School Open Morning


Friday 23 March Ski trip departs


asked ourselves about what happened and how we know about the event. There are some remarkable images, diaries and letters from the time which give a vivid, first-hand impression of what took place. I also showed the pupils a recent film about the truce which was produced by a major supermarket chain, this ends with the caption, ‘Christmas is for giving’. When we discussed the merits of this film one of the pupils suggested that he, ‘didn’t like the commercialisation of such an important event’. It was one of those wonderful moments in a lesson where a teenager gives a deep and perceptive view on something which they are learning about which greatly helps the learning of others. What is it about the Christmas truce which is so important, moving and instructive? There is something about the humanity of the moment which is deeply affecting. The ordinary soldiers, both private and officer, laying down their arms and climbing out of their dugouts to meet with their adversaries in no-man’s-land. The exchanging of handshakes, gifts and tokens of friendship which we know did take place. The agreed truce to bury the dead who lay between the trenches. The grainy images taken on rudimentary cameras (presumably by officers who were both wealthy enough


Christmas is for giving ‘We do not inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrow


What is it about the Christmas truce which is so important, moving and instructive?


to own a camera and bold enough to take images in the war zone) which capture such a range of emotions in the eyes and demeanour of the men. It is worth remembering that men did die on Christmas day 1914 – some came out of the trenches to fraternize with the enemy and were killed by those who did not understand their intentions. There is


something about


this scene which reaches out to the core of our humanity. That in this scene of death and carnage, humanity can exist and can be exemplified by ordinary men in extraordinary


‘…walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of 2


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