abingdon.org.uk/prep 3 FAREWELL TO CRAIG AND HANNAH For most of you in the APS community, the School’s three aims of ‘Be Kind, Work Hard, Get involved’ have always been at the heart of APS, and Craig has embodied them. When he arrived at the school just over eight years ago, working hard, being kind and getting involved were an innate part of who he was and still is. The aims of the school crystalised to become what they are today reflecting his own approach to all that he does. Get involved When Craig first applied for the job as Head, the job description would surely have included a statement like this: ‘a willingness to get involved in wider school life.’ An expanded version might have read rather like this: • The ability to teach many subjects including Sport, General Studies, Swimming, the occasional term of Latin and jump into any cover lesson from Music and DT to Maths and French and do so with confidence. • Must be willing to run a range of Other Half clubs including cricket, hockey, rugby, football, and cover any other club including drama or sign language. • Must engage in dressing up for World Book Day. Characters may include cricketers, superheroes and villains. • Must attend a range of school events including cross country, plays, quizzes, open mornings, musical productions, Art and DT exhibitions. Must not be averse to paint powder being thrown at you as you run around the school field. • Must be adaptable and, in the face of a global pandemic, deliver online assemblies and communal singing whilst trying to mute individual microphones so as not to hear the ambient dogs barking, parents on work phone calls or loud chatter. • Must be willing to take part in a range of fixtures and trips, and thrive on minimal sleep jammed into a tent with your family on the field whilst supervising an excitable bunch of midnight feast eating, chatty Year 4s. • Above all, must be able to leap into a minibus to drive anywhere at any time without notice. Being adept with a cloth, mop, vacuum cleaner, pair of rubber gloves etc is a bonus. Whether Craig anticipated what was behind the phrase ‘must be willing to get involved in wider school life’ I don’t know, but I can think of no better person to have got involved with such enthusiasm and an endless skillset. Work Hard Our second school aim is ‘Work hard’. A simple, and not exhaustive list of some of the tasks Craig has performed regularly, will demonstrate Craig’s own commitment to this target. • Almost daily, he leads tours of prospective parents and pupils around the school. You may have experienced your first taste of APS on such a tour. • Every week he attends meetings: e.g. with the governors at the senior school, and more at APS, including ones with pupils, such as the School Council feedback meetings. • During the holidays, Craig may have been in, doing more tours or supervising works going on including a whole new wing of the school. • At the end of the day, Craig will often be the last person here. There is also his contribution to Sport… In developing Sport at APS, Craig’s contribution could extend ‘Work hard’ to include ‘Play hard’, or more precisely, to ‘Play hard and fairly’. While it is true to say that the provision of sport was in a good position when Craig arrived, it is now one of the real strengths of the school. • Every pupil has had an opportunity to represent the school in a team. • Hockey was a relatively minor sport when Craig arrived. Now it is thriving. • Tag Rugby: Craig has encouraged its development for those who prefer to focus on running and handling rather than contact. • Craig was instrumental, along with the rest of the PE department, in hosting sports day in a real athletics stadium. • Cricket nets: Craig has supported increasing the facilities so that more pupils can train all year round to develop their cricketing skills. Thank you, Craig, for all the hard work you have done for APS in your time here. Be Kind The third aim is ‘Be kind’. This is the most important to Craig and many of us. It is the root system which allows the other two aims to flourish. When you are kind to others, you are more likely to feel positive, work hard and get involved. When you are on the receiving end of kindness, similarly, you are more likely to apply yourself fully to all areas of school life. Craig’s root system of kindness is far reaching and the impact has been felt by all. For pupils past and present, he has shown a genuine interest in getting to know them as individuals whether that is as they arrive in the morning, over lunch, while teaching them sport or around the corridors in school. He has been a calm and supportive Head for the staff, always willing to listen and help and is generous with his time in doing so. The Leadership Team fully appreciates his resilience, practicality, stoicism and sense of humour, a combination which assists in even the most challenging of circumstances. In conclusion If we ask ourselves why Craig embodies our three aims to ‘be kind, work hard and get involved’ so well, I think we would find it is because they allow all of us to be the very best we can be and to get the most out of our lives at school and in the future. And this genuinely matters to Craig because he cares. We’d like to thank Craig for all he has done for the school and us as individuals over the years. We will miss him and wish him, Hannah and Quinn all the very best for their new school. Rachel Pairman & Stefan Gerrard
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNTM1