Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 21st April 2023
Dear Parents,
Welcome back after what I hope was a happy and restful Easter break.
Earlier this academic year I was able to return to one of my favourite cities, Rome, for the first time since the Covid lockdowns. There are, obviously, many incredible sites in the city: the Colosseum, the Forum, St Peter’s Basilica. But one of the things I like to notice when walking around Rome is that it is covered, architecturally, in bees. There is a good reason for this: about four hundred years ago, one of the wealthiest and most important families in Rome was the Barberini family. They amassed great riches and developed political connections such that one of them, Maffeo, ascended to become Pope Urban VIII in 1623. While he was the Pope, he used his position, and the Church’s money, to commission much of the architecture that we can see in Rome today. He was especially noted for his relationship as patron to the wonderful sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini. If you look at the works commissioned by the Barberini family, they have something rather interesting in common: the aforementioned bees. They are everywhere: in stained glass, on book bindings, in stone, wood or metal form. They seem to crawl over the enormous canopy which covers the high altar in St Peter’s. There is a Fountain of the Bees, created by Bernini, just off the Piazza Barberini. The reason why there were bees all over the place was because bees featured on the Barberini family shield; they were part of the family emblem. So, by putting bees all over Rome, the Barberini family were subtly — and sometimes not so subtly — making a statement that they had been wealthy and powerful enough to commission these works, and that their influence would continue in Rome even after their deaths.
But the question still remains: why were bees in the Barberini family emblem in the first place? We know a lot more today about the science of bees than was known when the Barberini were seemingly obsessed by them. We now know, for example, that they can fly up to twelve miles per hour. That to make a 9.5 ounce jar of honey, it would take approximately 680 bees flying around 32,500 miles to gather almost 6lbs of nectar. That a Queen Bee will lay around 800,000 eggs in her lifetime. Centuries ago, though, before all of this information was known, bees were still valued for their special qualities. There is a legend surrounding the Barberini family which may explain why they liked bees so much. The story goes that a member of the family had become seriously ill and, despite getting the attention of the best doctors that could be found, his condition would not improve. A poor passer-by collecting honey from wild bees heard about the illness and used the bees’ venom and honey to heal the man, before disappearing without giving his name or demanding a reward. Legend has it, then, that the Barberini decided to use the bee symbol on their coat of arms as a symbol of hard work and healing. (There is a second, less worthy story, which suggests that the Barberini used to be known by the name ‘Tafani’, which meant ‘horseflies’ – but bees were a more dignified insect by which to be known, so they chose bees instead.)
Bees were celebrated as social and virtuous insects because of the way they worked industriously together to build hives and make honey. This was perhaps in contrast to insects like wasps who may have looked similar, but didn’t provide us with anything to spread on our toast at breakfast. As the comedian Eddie Izzard has put it most eloquently: ‘Honey bees are amazing creatures. I mean, think about it, do earwigs make chutney?’. But bees also, crucially, symbolised wisdom. They seemed to be intelligent creatures and the Barberini family wanted to be seen as wise, as well as industrious. Wisdom is often different from the kind of learning we think about when discussing preps or exams. Wisdom is not necessarily about being good at learning dates, memorising the periodic table, or passing vocab tests. This might be an odd thing to be saying at the start of a term that, for the older boys, will feature academic assessments. They are important, but so is the non-academic way that we think and behave – what is increasingly being called ‘character education’. Wisdom is about good honest judgement, thinking sensibly, and applying our experience. Having good judgment and thinking sensibly involves us carefully and consciously standing back to examine how we are behaving, or have behaved – and thinking slowly and rationally about whether we have been correct or whether our behaviour could change for the better. One of our housepoint categories is ‘reviewing and improving’ for the very simple reason that we want the boys to get into the habit of looking back over what they have done, and seeing where it can get better. This does not necessarily just apply to their written work – it is also about how they have treated other people, what they have contributed to our community and society, and how they could do even more, even more healthily.
Experience naturally comes over time, and some of the boys will have had more time than others to develop that experience. Some of them will have had more time to experiment with what is right (and, very occasionally, what is wrong), and will have had time to amend their thinking and behaviour accordingly. No matter how young or old we are, we are always learning – but the key thing here is to indeed learn from our experiences, no matter our age, not to just repeat them unthinkingly. Quite often you will hear someone say that they have had twenty years of experience in something. But this only works if those twenty years have been spent listening, learning and changing for the better. If they have not, then the person with ‘twenty years of experience’, only actually has one year of experience, twenty times over. This term, then, I am encouraging the boys to be like bees: hardworking, social, and virtuous. Busy bees, but also wise ones.
Have a great weekend,
Matt Jenkinson
Congratulations to Luke in Year 3 and Isaac in Year 7 who took part in the IAPS Chess Tournament over the holiday. Luke won U9 silver on the first day, then U9 gold on the second. Isaac was crowned U12 champion over the two-day tournament!
Well done to the choristers who performed so brilliantly on their USA tour over the Easter break. They sang concerts and services in Houston, Dallas and Charlotte, before spending four days at St Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York.
And, of course, well done to all of those boys who took part in the St Mark Passion in New College Chapel at the end of last term. We have had dozens of messages from members of the audience celebrating what an enjoyable and moving performance it was. And, as ever, it wouldn’t have had happened at all had Tom Neal not been wielding the baton so inspirationally.
As our new Zeelo bus service begins this term, please could the area at the school end of Savile Road be left clear for the bus to arrive, turn, park and depart? There is a new sign on the wall to remind those doing drop-off or pick-up, but I would also appreciate it if you could pass on this message to those who don’t habitually read this newsletter. Many thanks.
Our Inclusion Department is on the look-out for any blankets or cushions that families might otherwise be thinking of throwing out during their spring cleans. If you have any, do please drop them into the school office; they would be much appreciated.
I would like to thank all of our Year 7s for their energetic, mature and reflective approach to our leadership evening earlier this week. We are keen for all of the boys, especially once they are in the top year, to get the chance to exercise leadership in different forms around the school. We invest a lot of time and energy in giving the boys the chance to demonstrate their talents in the process, including letter-writing (all that practice is paying off!), teamwork exercises, public speaking, and of course their day-to-day activities around the school.
This is the last call for t-shirts for runners for this year's Town and Gown on Sunday 14 May. Thank you to all of you who have already signed up and emailed Victoria.hayter@newcollegeschool.org. It is going to be a great event! If you are still tempted, do register either yourself or your son (aged 9 or above) at https://www.townandgown10k.com/oxford/. We have organised a group for the NCS community to run under, so upon checking out, simply join the New College School group and we can all fundraise together. The fundraising page can be found out: https://sportsgiving.co.uk/sponsorship/group/3052. The deadline for t-shirt orders is Monday 24 April.
NCS families may be interested in the Marconi Day taking place at the History of Science Museum tomorrow (22 April) from 12.00 until 16.00. It is aimed at families with children aged 7+ and entry is free. Full details can be seen at https://hsm.ox.ac.uk/event/marconi-day-2023
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, 26 April 2023
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Mr Richard Bayfield, Project Director, Gradel Quadrangles, and former NCS parent
Junior Maths Challenge: Years 7 -8 11.50-12.50; Years 5-6 12.30-13.30
14.15 U13 A&B Cricket vs Abingdon Prep, Home
14.15 U11 A&B Cricket vs Abingdon Prep, Away
Monday, 1 May 2023
School and bank holiday
Wednesday, 3 May 2023
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: The Revd Canon Dr Robin Ward, Principal, St Stephen's House
14.30 U11 A&B Cricket vs MCS, Away
14.30 U13 A&B Cricket vs Cranford House, Home
14.30 U13 A (5 pairs) Tennis vs Cranford House, Home
18.00 Parents’ Evening with Visiting Music Teachers and Organist/Assistant Organist (online)
Thursday, 4 May 2023
13.00 Year 4 Maths Challenge, Headington School (return 15.45)
Saturday, 6 May 2023
No Music Academy (Coronation Day)