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3 September
 Thoughts: The Autumn Term 2010 is well underway and how blessed we are with a quite remarkable Indian summer! Followers of Headmaster’s Headlines may remember that we like to start Headmaster’s Assembly of a Tuesday morning with a sing-along simply because it engenders a real sense of participation and belonging. So, yesterday morning we practised the hymn Be Thou My Vision and Soldiers of Christ, arise! as we began the Start of Term Service and first Headmaster’s Assembly. I was delighted to be able to welcome 100 new pupils to the Merchiston family and you may be interested to see  the photos of the new boys in Pringle, the Senior School and the Sixth Form. I also welcomed the following new members of staff: Mr Richard Allison (Greek Tutor); Dr Frances Hall (Biology); Mr Craig Harrison (Physical Education, games coach and resident Tutor in Laidlaw South); Mrs Alison Horsey (Latin); Miss Louise Moyes (Chemistry); Mr Nathan Mylin (Pringle Housemaster, Maths & Science); Mr Vladimir Snurenco (Economics assistant); Mr Jonathan Timms (English); Miss Ching-An Tsai (Mandarin language assistant); Mr David Yeaman (Chemistry); and Mr Toby Blake (Graduate Assistant). I will be writing to parents early next week and will include some information about new staff.
 I took the opportunity to remind the School of what we believe in and our expectations of the boys. Under the heading Do what you do do well, I posed a series of rhetorical questions before we listened to Ned Miller’s rendering of this song from 1964! Some of the words are extremely pertinent as we begin a new school year. The chorus runs:
Do what you do do well boy
Do what you do do well
Give your love and all of your heart
And do what you do do well.
 Highlights: I already have two. First, it is an incredible achievement that Mr James Rainy Brown has completed 50 years of teaching (Maths), coaching sport and leading outdoor education in Pringle, at Merchiston. This is a record! In one of the staff inservice meetings, I had the great pleasure of presenting him with two bottles of champagne and 48 bottles of red wine, which will metaphorically take him on a grand tour of European vineyards! He fully deserves it! Over the years, he has contributed so much to boys, colleagues and parents alike. Secondly, it was a great pleasure to congratulate our Upper Sixth Scholars on their outstanding AS examination results, namely: Sam, Benny, Horace, Nicholas, Daniel, Patrick, Gavin, Peter, Alastair, David, Charles, Ruaridh, Angus, Kaloyan, Rong Bing, Keith, Alexander, Ross, Alexander, Matthew,  Thomas, Ben, Paul, William, Monty and Marco. Furthermore, I was delighted to announce that the following Upper Sixth Formers (who have not hitherto been Scholars) have been granted Gibson Awards on the basis of their excellent AS results: King Fan, Matthew, Alexander, Sam, Andy, Chris, Hector, John and Chutian, as well as an Exhibition to Daniel. This means that these boys are now Scholars at Merchiston. I also congratulated the following Lower Sixth Scholars on their GCSE results: Lawrence, Rory, Angus, Duncan, Tim, Rupert, Philip (who is  also a Music Scholar) and Jack. Gibson Awards have been granted to the following pupils: Ian, David, Edward, Jamie, Angus, Adam, Tom, Santiago, Charlie, Peter, Rory, Ryan and Antonio; Lewis has also been nominated for a Gibson Award on the basis of his very good set of SQA results.
As we concluded the Start of Term Service, I thanked the boys for their patience and attention and reminded them that the new term and school year is going to be great fun! I posed two final questions: Are  you ready for the challenges of this term? Are you ready to give your 1/486th? As is now customary at the beginning of a new school year or term, we embarked upon Handshaking as the School processed out of the Memorial Hall and down the stairs. This involves the boys and members of staff welcoming each other to the new academic year.
Archive: Autumn 06, Lent 07, Summer 07, Autumn 07, Lent 08, Summer 08, Autumn 08. Lent 09, Summer 09, Autumn 09, Lent 2010, Summer 2010 |
