Tag: oswestry

One More Step

March 27, 2025

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

I was reminded of this ancient proverb during our recent 24 hour fundraiser in aid of the new Performing Arts Centre at Oswestry School, an incredible weekend of collective effort and community endeavour, and one of the highlights not just of the term but of the school year as a whole.

At 2pm on Friday 7 March, the entire school joined together for the countdown to a non-stop challenge that would see hundreds of pupils, parents, staff and alumni throw themselves into a vast array of individual and group endurance challenges and creative efforts that would take us all the way through the night and on into the following afternoon.

A particularly special moment came right at the end of the event as Head of Lower School Mr Will Taylor concluded his epic 55 mile ‘Sea to School’ trek along Offa’s Dyke from Prestatyn to Oswestry, a feat of endurance that his feet won’t have thanked him for! Having walked through the night, over valley and stile, up hill and through brook, those final miles from the Old Racecourse down to the school were painful and slow ones, but as he neared the school, a group of pupils and staff went up to join him for the final mile, gathering around him to help him through those tough final moments. And, as he rounded the corner and walked towards the awaiting tunnel of cheering onlookers, he dropped his walking sticks and broke into a run, positively charging towards the finishing line where in front of him was a basin of deliciously cold iced water for his feet, and an equally enticing ice cold beer! It was a wonderful moment of collective celebration and admiration, and just one example of the quite brilliant – and quite inspiring – ways so many within our community threw themselves so fully into the fundraising effort.

Head of Lower School Mr Taylor cools off his feet after his feat of endurance!

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

For my own part, I’d agreed (somewhat foolishly, in retrospect!) to attempt to run 50km on a treadmill, a distance I had never come close to running on a treadmill, and a distance I’d not run for very many years; in fact, the last time I’d raced over that distance was over 21 years ago when I was much younger. And much fitter!

But I was determined to play my part, because this is a project that’s personally hugely important to me; having been persuaded as an 11 year old to audition for the school play (and unexpectedly landing the eponymous main part in Peter Pan), a desperately shy introverted young boy was given the confidence to believe in himself, and it changed everything for me. Above all, it taught me about the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone and, for me, it was a first step on the journey towards where I am today. That desperately shy 11 young boy who wouldn’t even dream of putting his hand up in class would not have believed that in his later life he’d not only become a teacher and be the one at the front of the class, but would end up as a headteacher standing at the front of an assembly hall full of hundreds of students. The very thought of it would have struck terror in that young lad, but those first steps on that school stage (yes, green tights and all!) were some of the most important ones in my journey towards believing in myself and having the confidence to do things outside of my comfort zone.

Whilst the 50km Challenge was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done (and I don’t want to even look at a treadmill for a long while!) each and every one of those steps was worth it as a means of playing my part in the collective endeavour, and whilst those final miles were tough – really, tough – I kept in the back of my mind the reason why we were doing it, and the potential transformational impact it would have on future generations to come, youngsters who might in turn find their forte – and find their confidence – on stage and in the performing arts.

Barely standing at the end of the 50km Challenge!

Building a Legacy

As we gathered on the quad on that Friday afternoon in front of the Memorial Hall, we were joined by Chris Wylie (OO) and his wife Judith. Chris had been a pupil at the school when the Memorial Hall was opened on 11th December 1954 just over 70 years before. He remembered the occasion well, and reflected on just how fortunate he and his peers felt to have this brand new facility, one that – very poignantly – was built to commemorate those from the school who had given their lives in the two world wars. The building was funded almost entirely by donations from alumni and friends of the school, and was a campaign spearheaded – and delivered – through the determination and passion of a group of individuals who fervently believed in a vision for a legacy facility to benefit generations of youngsters in the years to come; that the sacrifices of those who had fallen would not be in vain.

As a school whose motto is We Learn Not For School But For Life, the Performing Arts plays a central role in the development of the skillsets and mindsets that will enable our youngsters to thrive – and flourish- in their adult lives.  After all, there is no better stage than the theatre for developing confidence and communication skills.  No better stage for experiencing collaboration and teamwork.  No better stage for developing resilience, agility, motivation and self-awareness.  Leadership; empathy; attention to detail; creative thinking (all of which, as it happens, are on the World Economic Forum’s list of Top 10 Skills of the Future).

Members of the Oswestry School Dance Academy which this year celebrated its 10th anniversary and has grown to a company of 115 members from 21 local schools

The vision for the new Performing Arts facility is all about making a life-changing impact to generations of youngsters in the years to come, and to make a difference to the local community in which we live.  A theatre and performance venue within walking distance of the town would be an exciting and significant community development for the town of Oswestry and is one of the main reasons why the Town Council were unanimous in their support for the project.   With residential housing for the elderly directly opposite the Memorial Hall, it is exciting to think of the difference we could make to our closest neighbours with regular weekly informal concerts within the new foyer space, or exhibitions of artwork, or talks from visiting authors and speakers.  For young and old, this new facility can – and will – really make a difference.  

Striding Forward

The 24 hr Non-Stop Challenge has raised just over £30,000 at time of writing – a phenomenal total and a demonstration, too, of what can be achieved through shared vision and collective endeavour. It brings our total fundraising to just shy of the million pound mark which will be a significant milestone in the campaign when we get there.

When we set out on this journey, the £1.5million fundraising target seemed like an almost impossible dream, but having taken that all-important first step, with each step, we get closer to the destination, and closer to the dream.

The journey – no matter how long, and no matter how hard – will be well worth it in the end!

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/pacappeal

Follow, my leader

March 15, 2024

In an early work from his debut collection Death of a Naturalist, the late great Irish poet Seamus Heaney eulogises his farmer father as he “worked with a horse-plough,/His shoulders globed like a full sail strung/Between the shafts and the furrow.” The poem – ‘Follower’ – is a vivid evocation of youthful wonder, admiration and awe, and is a poignant love letter to his ‘expert’ father whose furrows Heaney followed, not as a farmer but, as he suggests in the companion poem ‘Digging’, as a writer who would go on to excavate the Irish landscape and dig into its troubled history.

The collection Death of a Naturalist was to have a profound impact upon me as a schoolboy, introduced to Heaney’s work by a new – and wonderfully passionate- teacher who joined our school as I entered my final year. Until that point, I had always enjoyed studying English, but it was the arrival of the inspirational figure of Mr McLaughlin that truly fired my imagination and revealed to me the power – and impact – of the written word.

‘Seamus Heaney’ by Old Oswestrian artist Peter Edwards (copyright National Portrait Gallery)

Amongst others – including my grandfather, a Classics teacher – Mick McLaughlin played an influential role in my own pathway into teaching and, having continued to take a keen interest in Irish literature whilst studying English at university, it was to Heaney that I first turned – and returned – when I commenced my own teaching career. I found it a particularly moving – and symbolic – moment as, in turn, I taught Heaney’s poem ‘Follower’ to my own A Level students, conscious as I was of following in the Tweed-suited, brogues-wearing footsteps of Mr McLaughlin. As Heaney did when he followed in the literal furrows of his father, I, too, “stumbled in his hobnailed wake,/Fell sometimes on the polished sod,” though, thankfully for Mr McLaughlin, I at least didn’t ask him to give me a piggy back as Heaney’s father did with the young Heaney “dipping and rising to his plod”!

Leader as Follower

There’s a lovely moment each year at our school’s summer term Speech Day when the Head Boy and Head Girl announce to the school and our guests the names of those who will follow them as the next year’s Heads of School. Having led the school for the past academic year and delivered their valedictory speeches, their final act is to welcome on to stage their successors, handing over their Heads of School gowns as they do so, a symbolic gesture of the passing of leadership from one cohort to another. With a history spanning over 615 years, I find it a powerful reminder of the golden thread that connects one year group to the next, the metaphoric baton of leadership being passed across not only the years but across the centuries, too. In this sense, our Heads of School become both leaders and followers, walking in the footsteps of their forebearers, learning from them, emulating their example, but ploughing their own furrow, and doing it their own way.

This term we have spent the past few weeks interviewing the next cohort of Prefects to lead the school in the forthcoming academic year. One of the questions we ask requires applicants to reflect on what makes a great leader, and to provide examples of leaders they’d wish to emulate. Many of them pointed to the example of our current Heads of School Myles and Marta, and their Deputies Jessie and Harris as leaders they admire and whose example they hope to follow. They point to Myles’s approachability and his empathy, his calm manner and his willingness to drop everything to listen to a fellow pupil in their time of need. They point to Marta’s example on and off the sports field, her energy, her organisation, her ability to get things done. They point to Harris’s kind nature and his imaginative approach (and his Instagram status as the star of our pupil-led Football team account that has a fast-growing following!). They point to Jessie and the way the youngsters in our Prep School look up to her and admire her, and the ‘glue’ she provides in her own yeargroup.

These four – and their Prefect team – were appointed for the skillsets and character attributes they possessed. They had seen examples of strong leadership from their predecessors, who in turn had role models to follow from their own predecessors. And when we appoint the Prefect Elect and begin the process of handover again, next year’s cohort will spend the coming term following in the furrows of the current Upper Sixth before they take the baton on and lead themselves.

The golden thread continues; unbroken. Follower. Leader. Leader-Follower.

Oswestry Heads of School (clockwise from top left): Myles; Marta; Harris; Jessie

Curator Leadership

One of the tremendous privileges over the past few years in which I have been Headmaster of Oswestry School has been the opportunity to meet a number of my predecessors. Some I knew already from ‘the circuit’ including my immediate predecessors Julian Noad (now Head at Queen’s School, Taunton) and Douglas Robb (now Head at Gresham’s), but others I have met when they have taken the time to visit us whether on Founder’s Day or just in passing through, including Paul Smith (Headmaster 1995-2000) and the legendary figure of Frank Gerstenburg (Headmaster 1974-1985). All were great Heads and steered the good ship skilfully, carefully, and at times courageously through waters calm, choppy and sometimes stormy.

When you are the Head of a school founded in 1407, you quickly gain a sense of the privilege and responsibility of the role, first and foremost of course to the community of pupils and staff one leads, but likewise the privilege and responsibility of stewardship, taking on the metaphorical baton from those who have led the schools across the centuries, and ensuring the golden thread of the school continues uninterrupted.

“Your leadership is temporary,” writes educationalist and former Head Richard Gerver, “and you are just the author of one chapter in a school’s history, a custodian: your aim must be to ensure that it is a great chapter and actually so good that it sets up the next one to be even greater.”

Former Oswestry School Heads Paul Smith (top left) and Frank Gerstenberg (bottom left)

Whether a Headmaster, a Head of School, a Prefect- or any of the other many leadership roles within a school community- one’s leadership is temporary. We are custodians of the school, curators even: our role is to look after. Looking after those within our care, looking after the school. As we have followed in the footsteps of those who have gone before us, in turn we lay a trail for those who come after to follow behind.

Perhaps it’s not a golden thread after all, but a golden tread. In time, our footsteps will disappear, but for those that follow immediately after, they are firmly imprinted, a golden tread to follow, a golden tread to lead forward from.

Image: copyright Anup Shah | Getty