Lift Up Your Hearts

Apta Camenis means "Fit for the Muses." At least, that is what I was taught.

The Muses are personifications of inspiration for aspects of poetry and the arts. For the Christian, to be Inspired is to have been touched by the Holy Spirit, to have been given a charism, a gift of God which enables some action or work.

Part of the work of a school is to enable children to come to recognize their gifts and to make best use of them. A Christian school will teach that the best use we can make is that to which God calls us. In a recent list Haileybury came out being among the best independent schools at bringing 'value added.' Value added is a horrid phrase, but it refers to the extra that the school brings to the child beyond what he or she would have achieved anyway, so that selective schools are put on more even terms with non-selective schools in assessing performance.

Value Added is what Grace is about. God gives us what we need to do His will, but calls us to co-operate with Him, to work with Him and to be obedient to His call, in short, to bring Value Added. Christians assert that to act in this way makes a person happy and fulfilled, even if it may seem that he or she has chosen a path the world would not recommend. A Christian education seeks to help souls be open to this.

If the ancient Greeks personified artistic inspiration they were beginning to apprehend the truth that the gifts we have come from beyond ourselves. The concomitant is that we should use them well. Are we fit for the muses?

New Guv's Test 4

We have had a dayoff from the test. On Tuesday the question was "Where are the Penthouses at Haileybury?" The Penthouses are grander than they once were. They used to be two bits of corrugated iron forming a sort of metal ridge tent. They still serve the same purpose: to provide a dry place to put your tracksuit and other kit when you are playing sport in the rain. The answer is "On the edge of XX Acre."

I promised that the next question would have a musical flavour. I think this is one which Roger Bass, (HM Hailey 1986) added to the test as he thought that we should be able to answer the query of any bemused visitor who looked at the panel outside the music school and asked what it all meant.

"apta camenis"

The words come from a poem written by EH Bradby and carved in panels round the Bradby Hall. When the new Music School was opened in 1979 the 'Bridge of Sighs' was built to join it to the Bradby. The panel was removed to allow for the bridge.

Your question is: What does the writing on the panel mean?

Choirs and Orchestras

The great Jack Hindmarsh would test the New Gu'vs for the choir. We queued up outside the vestry of the chapel where there was an upright piano. He would play a note or two and the boy had to sing it back to him. To those with musical talent and the desire to join the choir he gave a full music copy of the hymn book (Hymns Ancient and Modern Revised in those days) and sent them up the stairs to the gallery. The others were given a melody only book and sent to the pews. I had not finished "singing" my note before I was off to the pews with the melody only book in my hand. I am always in awe of those who can sing and play.


I gather much the same music test is done today for girls and boys on entry to the school. Many many of them do make the journey up to the gallery. The music department at Haileybury should be proud of the young people who performed at last night's concert in S John's Smith Square. It was a wonderfully varied programme: saxophones; piano; jazz; orchestral music; voices, even a drum solo. Lots of parents and OHs were there as well as other friends of Haileybury. It was in aid of the Attlee Fund to provide bursaries for pupils to go to Haileybury who would not otherwise be able to do so. As one who himself went to Haileybury on a bursary it is a cause close to my heart. You can support the fund here.

The answer to yesterday's New Guv's Question will be given tomorrow; and the question after that will have a musical flavour…

New Guv's Test 3

The answer to question 2 is "Under the Tables." The benches, tables and chairs in Hall were all carved by Robert Thompson of Kilburn, N Yorks, whose signature was a mouse on each picee made. He coloured the oak he used by 'fuming' it, which gives the rich colour and draws out the grain. Despite the heavy use it has received, the furniture in Hall is enduring as ever.

Question three of your New Guv's Test is: Where at Haileybury are the Penthouses?

New Guv's Test 2

The answer to question 1 was, of course, seven. There are seven small lawns, or 'blades' on the Quad. The four main ones; two small ones either side of the chapel apse; one in the corner formed by the path from the Old Studies to Clock House.

The New Guv's test was perfectly above board. New Guv's had a week's grace in which to learn their way around. In that time they did not get into trouble for being late for lessons, and were given leeway on not knowing school rules and customs. At the end of the week we went one by one to the Housemaster's study for the New Guv's Test. It was a conversation with the Head of House in the presence of the Housemaster.

Here is a second question.

Where are the mice in the Dining Hall?

New Guv's Test 1

Not sure where the apostrophe should go. It seems not only the test, but also referring to pupils in their first term as 'New Guvs' and to those in their first year as 'Guv'nors' has gone. So for those who never sat it, and for those who did, here over the next few days are some of the questions I can remember being in the New Guv's Test.

Question 1.

How many blades of grass on the Quad?