#bablakelions

I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter holidays. With the easing of lockdown on 12th April 12th, it has been good to see people beginning to enjoy outdoor hospitality. I know many have relished the return of hairdressers and our pupils look all the smarter for a good trim.

Bubbles continue at school, as do the wearing of facemasks. The next review date will be 17th May when it is hoped that facemasks can be removed in the classroom. Sport has returned, in limited form. As I said in a letter to parents before Easter, we have decided not to arrange any fixtures for senior pupils before they finish their Key Assessment Tasks on 28th May. I know many feel disappointed but none can afford either to contract Covid or spend 10 days in self-isolation at this critical time. Junior fixtures are taking place and we have trials for both rounders and cricket squads this Saturday. However, in line with government policy, we aren’t able to allow spectators. This will disappoint those of you who brave the late Spring/early summer weather up at the playing fields to watch your sons and daughters. Your support is very welcome but if I can ask you to be patient, please.

KATs for the Fifth year and U6 have now started in earnest. Initial reports indicate a smooth start and I hope that those pupils affected are taking them in their stride. I suspect that for many of our pupils they are quietly pleased to be started after months of uncertainty.

I am delighted to announce that Emma Allroggen, one of our two school captains, has been invited to become a member of Great Britain Hockey’s Women’s Elite Development Group. She is also a member of England Hockey’s U21 squad preparing for the U21 Hockey World Cup. The vast majority of the squad are beyond school age. It is a terrific achievement and we look forward to hearing how she progresses over the next few years.

Finally, I have to report a major casualty of Covid. My Easter egg consumption. I have always regarded the cost of Easter eggs as extortionate. The amount you pay for a relatively small amount of chocolate has never sat easy for me. So now that the children have left home, we buy one egg for each other and then, two days after Easter, we buy up countless numbers of eggs at significantly reduced prices. Not this year; there weren’t any left. And whilst my waistline is appreciative, my taste buds have suffered. This will teach me to be such a cheap skate!

(Bulletin No 11 - 23rd April 2021)

Just before Christmas, last year’s Upper Sixth returned to receive their A Level certificates and prizes. It was a joy to see them and catch up on their news of their first term away from Bablake. It was clear that they were throwing themselves into everything that was on offer, either at university or as part of an apprenticeship. They are contributing to their communities, enjoying all that is on offer and able to communicate with others. They were good company. Their parents and we are proud of them.

I am often asked to argue in favour of coeducation by prospective parents. There are so many benefits of educating girls and boys alongside each other during the teenage years, but one of the most powerful arguments is to be found in the constant breaking down of gender stereotypes, which is only possible in mixed school environments. It is a source of great pride to me that pupils at Bablake feel perfectly comfortable with each other. They socialise together, they take part in activities together and they learn together. I expect the forthcoming production of Fame to be a great example of this.

What do we want for our pupils? 

Exam results, which truly reflect their academic ability? Of course! 

A co-curriculum, which allows them to develop talents and discover passions, which will remain with them for the rest of their life? Definitely! 

An understanding that they can pursue any of their dreams and strive for anything in life regardless of gender or identity? Absolutely!

It is this last point that makes coeducational schools such powerful communities in which to educate young people in the 21st century. Every week at Bablake, gender stereotypes are broken down and this has to be for the benefit of both the School and every pupil. This is the power of coeducation.

I will start with a positive sports result; yesterday the 1st XI girls’ hockey team won their national competition game against KEHS Birmingham 12-1!

The result of the Mick Hibbert Shield last Friday was bitterly disappointing, and you could tell how much it meant to the players at the final whistle. Once the players had changed, they came and joined parents and other supporters in the clubhouse and I was impressed by the reaction of many of them, especially the captain, Will, who displayed the very attitude that I described in my previous bulletin. We were proud of them during the game and I was just as proud seeing their reaction afterwards. I am very conscious that I have spoken about rugby quite a lot recently, so I will leave it at that.

After the game, two former pupils accosted me. They were part of a very successful year group and they had gone on to achieve highly in the City. They wanted to know how we could claim to have had the best ever results this summer because they felt their year group’s results were better. I pointed out that A* grades did not exist in their time, let alone 8s and 9s. Their argument was about the position of the School in the national league tables and we chatted about how these are flawed, and direct comparisons over time are difficult. We had a good discussion about statistics and agreed that their year group did well, as did our current Lower Sixth (and Upper Sixth) in their GCSEs. 

I often teach statistics to the Sixth Form and sometimes pupils start the course with a heavy heart. “Not more bar charts and histograms, sir!” they say. I sympathise with their plight when they need to draw yet another graph, but statistics is much more than that and very important. The ability to understand what data tells us and what it does not tell us, is a vital skill and one that is becoming more important as technology allows us to collect more and more information. The forthcoming election campaign has already shown how often politicians fail to understand what data does and does not say. We as teachers have to train young people to be discerning and this includes how we can be manipulated, not just by the rhetoric of speeches or written passages, which they study in their English lessons, but also by algorithms and automated scripts.

Frederick Mosteller, who died in 2006, was one of the most eminent statisticians of the 20th century. He said, “While it is easy to lie with statistics, it is even easier to lie without them.” The 10-13 score line last Friday only tells part of the story!

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching some of the boys’ rugby this term, especially the U15 and U18s. Both squads have shown the commitment, teamwork and leadership needed to be successful. They listen and learn from their coaches and have played some excellent rugby. I think, however, it is the way they play and behave that has impressed me the most. There have been some brilliant results but also some disappointments and they have met defeat with grace, congratulated their opposition and taken the opportunity to learn. It reminds me of the Kipling poem, If, which includes the lines, “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, And treat those two impostors just the same.”

Vince Lombardi, the legendary American football coach, said, “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.” While there was much that Lombardi got right, in this case, I think, he was wrong. We will be disappointed in defeat, but should meet it with grace, not excuses or rancour. New Zealand’s response to being beaten by England in the World Cup shows why they have a 79.2% winning record since they first played in 1903. One part of resilience is to have the maturity to face up to defeat, to reflect on what happened, learn from it and to rebound. Steve Hansen, the New Zealand head coach, said after the game, “You put a lot of time and effort to win the thing but if you don’t achieve what you wanted to do, you have to stand up and be counted. It does not stop you from hurting, but you have to accept what is chucked at you. There is no shame in being beaten. That adversity will feed a lot more All Black teams in the future.” I suspect he is right! England will need to react in the same way following their defeat in the final.

The U18s have won many more games than they have lost and on Wednesday went through to the last 16 of the National Vase competition. An impressive achievement and next week there is a chance to see them in action. I hope many of you will come and support them in the annual Mick Hibbert Shield on next Friday at Coventry RFC’s Butts Park Arena. Kick-off is at 7pm. It should be a great game and the team would appreciate your support.

I apologise to all those who do not like rugby and I promise to write about something else next week.

(Bulletin No 14 - 8th November 2019)