At the Parents’ Association Summer Ball held in June 2024, one of the auction prizes was the opportunity for a pupil to be Headmaster for the Day. Fabian G from Year 8’s parents won the bid and on Monday 7 October, it was Headmaster Fabian for the day!
The Headmaster started his day as the new temporary Head at 9.30am and had several activities, meetings, and events to keep him busy throughout the day. And in addition to his new responsibilities for the day, he still had the time to attend his core lessons.
First, the Headmaster went through the day’s plan with the Head’s Executive Assistant, Mrs Emmett. Following this, two then went on a learning walk to assess whether the pupils are enjoying their lessons. The Headmaster visited a variety of lessons including geography, business, economics, and criminology where he had the opportunity to ask pupils if they were receiving engaging lessons and in the economics lesson, if the pupils were enjoying their new classrooms in Jubilee.
Following this, it was time to get ready for Staff Briefing. After donning his gown, the Headmaster along with Mr Howe made their way to the Lecture Theatre to read staff notices and update the staff body on any events and changes.
After a lesson, the Headmaster then met with Director of External Relations, Mrs Green, to discuss the College’s marketing plan and the Head’s ideas for how we continue to attract Year 7 and Year 9 pupils to Shiplake. Amongst the many ideas was one to hold a summer fair on our fields where prospective (and current!) pupils could play games, buy food, and generally have fun. Following this, it was time for the Head to fulfil his media duties with an interview and shoot with Marketing and Communications Officer, Mr Johnston. In the interview, the Head relayed some of his ideas from the previous meetings and spoke of the intensity and busyness that comes from being a headmaster of a school like Shiplake.
During lunchtime, the Head along with Mr Howe hosted lunch for our new Year 12 pupils before it was time for a health and safety walk with the College Bursar, Mr Dixon. On their walk, Mr Dixon explained to the Head about some of the protocols and procedures that are in place including those for fire alarms and evacuation. It may have been a coincidence but shortly after the Head’s health and safety walk, there was a whole school fire drill.
In what was perhaps the most important meeting of the day, the Headmaster sat down with our Head Chef Mr Thompson to sample some new biscuit and snack ideas. Mr Howe was also in attendance where they had the delightful opportunity to try red velvet and marshmallow cookies, while the Head also got to learn more about the sheer numbers involved with feeding the College community.
The Headmaster’s final meeting of the day was with Deputy Head (Academic) Mr Jones and Deputy Head (Pastoral) Mrs Elliott where they discussed new school rules that the Head would like to put in place. The final job for the Headmaster was to respond to a couple of emails from ‘pupils’ and ‘staff’ where requests ranged from the extension of breaktime to the removal of prep. We suspect that any actions taken were swiftly reversed by Mr Howe once he returned to post!
Fabian’s final message was to the staff where he said, ‘thank you for all you do – great work!’
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