A message from Mrs Jarrett, our Director of Marketing and Admissions:

Earlier this year, a colleague suggested it would be a good idea for me to spend a day with one of our new students, to find out what it is really like to be a Year 7 student at Reading Blue Coat. I have to confess to being a tad indignant about this proposal; were they suggesting I was out of touch? A significant part of my role as Director of Marketing and Admissions is ‘telling the story’ about Blue Coat, and informing prospective families about what goes on here – and, since I’ve worked here for a little over seven years and have had three sons pass through the School, I should have a pretty good idea of what it’s all about, right?

But then I started to think, perhaps my colleague’s suggestion wasn’t quite as ridiculous as it first seemed. My eldest son joined the School in 2003 and the youngest in 2008 so perhaps things have moved on here, as they have in most other areas of our busy lives. Just thinking about technology, you are reading my musings on the giant which is Facebook, but back in 2003 Facebook was still 12 months away from going online! And, according to joint research by Ofcom, the LSE and the Children’s Society, even by 2005 only 24% of households had broadband access. Incredible! It makes you wonder how we managed! In 2008, when my youngest sons started at Blue Coat, Twitter was still in its infancy and Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat were still some way off. As with technology, there have been a huge number of changes at Blue Coat, too: our facilities have undergone significant development and improvement, teaching pedagogy has changed and, of course, Mr Elzinga only arrived here in September 2016.

This year we have more than 100 delightful young men in Year 7, so I asked Mrs Dance to select just one for me to shadow for the day. She has chosen Patrick. As it turns out, I have known Patrick for a number of years; his two older brothers are Old Blues, so Patrick joined the Blue Coat community from an early age. When I caught up with Patrick’s parents at the Year 7 Parent/Tutor meeting earlier this term, they too commented on how the school has changed since James and Ted were here, making an even more compelling case for me to pick up on my colleague’s suggestion.

So, tomorrow is the day I will ‘go back to School’ to see what it’s like to be 11 again. I left school more years ago than I care to mention; let’s just say, like Pinterest, GCSEs were some years off and O Levels were ‘de rigeur’. I have checked that History is not on tomorrow’s timetable, and that’s not because I disliked History at all; on the contrary, I chose it as an A Level, but what might have been current affairs in my 20s will be taught as History today – think Berlin Wall! I am a little sorry that I won’t get to a Classics lesson, as I have really fond memories of learning about Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 Ad (and no, I didn’t have to Google the date), the burying of Pompeii and reading Pliny’s letters. Perhaps next time!

So, this evening, I will have an early night, polish my shoes and sharpen my pencil in readiness for my day ahead. Stay tuned…..