In among all of the anger of the last few days, I’m reminded of the need for, now more than ever, the African concept of ‘ubuntu’. In essence, ‘a person is a person because of other people’: we have social obligations that bind us, and sometimes these norms trump our own, narrow definition of self-interest.
It is half term, colleagues are marking, preparing, writing UCAS references and still participating in school life, thanks to the fantastic curation of the Hay Digital Festival by a small group of Fifths, selflessly, for the whole community. Boys will be working on Extended Essays, reading, and, hopefully, finding time to relax.
Even away from school we remain a community acutely aware of those obligations. After nine weeks of varying stages of lockdown, we are, for the most part, still doing the right thing, simply because it is the right thing to do. It strikes me as a reasonable guide to how to live and key part of the culture of this remarkable school. My instinct is that this has, for the most part, been reflected in our experiences of these remarkable times.
