Cars

I still walk quickly because there were only five minutes to get from, for instance, the Art School or the Whatton Block to the Science Labs or Bradby. I have never been good in the mornings either, and the payback for maximising time in bed was the rush to get to breakfast on time from Hailey.

We have learned this week that visionaries are thinking about rocket - planes to cut the travel time from London to Sydney to two hours.

It is noticeable how many cars there are nowadays around Haileybury. There are many more day pupils than once there were, and many of those who, like my boys, board, go home most weekends. Parents come to watch games in large numbers and attend things at school much more than in the days when we were dropped off for eleven weeks of no contact except by post. Many senior pupils have cars. Car parks are springing up: on the corner of XX Acre; on the lawn outside the Batten entrance to the KBM block; by the mini range on the edge of Hailey Field, and anywhere people can park a car.

With the cars come notices and yellow lines and so on. I suppose it is inevitable, but it does seem a shame.

Music

I did not make it in time to hear any of the music at tonight's Society concert, but at the reception afterwards which I was able to attend there was quite a buzz. The performers had clearly had a great time and the audience were delighted. 'Even better than last time,' was one comment, and the consensus was that the quality was very high. Congratulations to Quentin Thomas, the Haileybury Director of Music and his team.

Music School

It was not just OHs present, but also some non OH parents of former pupils. That the Society can reach beyond simply alumni is surely a good thing.

How remarkable that such great results can be gained from a disparate group of people who had only begun to rehearse together that afternoon. Music is like that I suppose, different from a football team, which seemingly needs to work together for some time to obtain tip top results or a group of managers or the crew of a ship need to 'bond' for the highest results. Or maybe music is not different at all in that respect and the empathy which comes from being Haileyburians allows the choir and orchestra to come together in short order.

Re-vamped Website

The Haileybury Society has overhauled its website. It looks splendid.

I have spent a bit of time putting my profile up. I am not one who uses social networking sites otherwise, but I will have a look at this.

The advent of Facebook and the like has led to a whole new area of complexity for anyone who has professional contact with children. We are all faced with the need for CRB checks and we must act within child protection guidelines. That has included simple things like not sharing your mobile number with a child or private e-mails. It is normally felt wrong for an adult with responsibility over someone else's child to be friends with him or her on a social network, and it might be inappropriate anyway: a teacher might not want pupils to see holiday snaps or join in with the discussion on the site. the But once you are on the web of links means that everyone is connected. My feeling is that this can no longer be prevented, but we do need to learn how to manage it.

Even a couple of years ago the Haileybury server would not let computers other than those managed by the school online. Mobile internet is now so available that such restrictions are beside the point. At the Attlee lecture the other night the moment the young were dismissed hundreds of mobiles came out and facebook pages were being updated even as they filed out of Big School.

Parents at Haileybury were offered some advice last week at a meeting on internet safety. It is a fast changing world and we all need help keeping up. Even the young.

PS I am sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days. We won some concessions from the planning meeting last night on the Spurs ground (the meeting lasted till gone 11pm!) and preparation was intense.

Parents

It is said that one day in the 1950s a boy arrived late back after a half term exeat. The car had suffered a puncture which had caused the delay. The parents came in with their son to explain to the House Master what the problem had been. This was Hailey and the House Master was the fabled "Killer Cook." Even in the 1980s the stories of his firmness and vigour were still told in the House Room and DC. It is said that the parents were assured all was well, invited to the drawing room and given a glass of sherry. Then Cook left the room for a moment. The boy was summoned to the study, beaten for being late, and sent away, while Cook went back to chat to the parents.

Maybe this explains why I am always edgy when we are late getting the boys back to Highfield on a Sunday evening! The difference in attitude now to parents is enormous. From being rather annoying distractions, parents have become partners with the school.  "The first and best teacher of the child." The  Haileybury Parents' Association is just ten years old. It helps parents to know one another and supports the school with its own events and shared initiatives like the 'welcome day' when new pupils start in their Houses and Lower School.