Headmaster’s Weekly Comment

I should like in this Message to say a few thank yous.  Over the quarter century plus (!) of heading up this school the number of people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude is limitless.  Shakespeare tells us that when sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions .  That may be so, but I can attest that when joys come, and when colleagues come, and when amazing people come, they also come not as single spies but as battalions, regiments, whole armies.

I am limitlessly grateful to every child who has ever worn a John Colet uniform.  Every one of them has, in their own unique way, added another thread to the fabric of the School.  My thanks also go to the parents who entrusted us with the most precious thing they possess.  The faith they placed in a small, eccentric, but excellent School was a wonder to behold.

And today I would like to give an especially warm thanks to the staff of the School.  The admin staff are in some ways the unsung heroes of John Colet School.  I have seen how tirelessly they work behind the scenes to keep the show on the road.  In the early days everyone had to be good at everything, but as the School grew, one of the signs of its maturity was the gradual gathering of specialists who concentrated on one or two areas of expertise.

And, of course, the teaching staff, past and present and future, are at the pointy end, the place where the rubber meets the road, the place where the School succeeds or fails in its mission to educate young people and guide their journey to become mature young men and women.  I have been privileged beyond my just deserts to have walked shoulder to shoulder with the teachers of the School, to count them as my friends, and to have worked with them to fulfill the School’s core Vision of producing skillful, well-educated, truthful boys and girls.

I thank you all.

Gilbert Mane
Headmaster