6th March 2026
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
WORLD BOOK DAY
IWD 2026
“Words can be like x-rays if you use them properly - they’ll go through anything.” - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. It was so great to see everyone embrace World Book Day yesterday as well as our extended week of activities. Those that came to school as a character from their favourite book really looked the part. We also extended this to staff and I am pleased that so many embraced this too; we had a smorgasbord of books and characters represented! The aim of the day, of course, is to raise the profile of books and of reading. The evidence is quite clear on this; regular reading makes a real difference to academic performance. The week kicked off with a bake sale. I am pleased to say that we managed to raise £173 towards new books for the library. A huge thank you to everyone who donated and bought cakes/donuts/cookies/brownies - every single cake was sold! Thursday is one of my teaching days which allowed me to take part in our whole school read of Ray Bradbury’s The Veldt, a story where technology replaces parental roles in a “Happylife Home.” Siblings Wendy and Peter become obsessed with their virtual reality nursery, which manifests a lethal African veldt. When their parents attempt to shut it down, the children’s blurred reality leads to a chilling, murderous betrayal. Each lesson across the school began with all classes reading a chapter from the book. By the end of the day many of us were poised to find out how it ended. Please do ask your child what they thought of the story. Today Mr Gribben, Mr Williams and I will be judging the door design competition. I wish you all a lovely weekend.
James Saunders
I am going to kick things off this week with a riddle: “A father and his son are in a car accident. Sadly, the father dies. The son is rushed to the A&E. The attending surgeon looks at the boy and says, ‘I can’t operate on this boy. He’s my son!’ How is this possible?” I will come back to the riddle in a moment. Now imagine an equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Sunday is International Women’s day (IWD) and I am sure the media will be filled with inspirational stories of talented women from across the globe. As a young boy I can only remember a few inspirational male role models. Ok, there was my father. And screen icons Rambo and The Terminator. However, it was female musicians that had the greatest influence on me and helped me develop my love for music: Tracy Chapman; Nina Simone, Lauren Hill, Annie Lennox, Nenah Cherry and Kate Bush to name a few. These women managed to express themselves and the art form without the misogyny and violence that plagues so much of today’s male dominated world of rap. International Women’s day reminds us that equality still very much needs to be on our radar and as a society we must still strive to achieve parity for all every single day. Whilst the theme of international women’s day is the backdrop to this week’s headlines, equity is something that permeates all parts of society as well as being one of our core values. We can sometimes forget the difference between equity and equality when making decisions around school. Usually the root of this misunderstanding is our perception of fairness. We often think that fairness is consistently treating