This week we followed up last week’s assembly on the school motto, Altiora Peto, by talking to the boys about how you ‘seek higher things’ and make improvements in your learning, your hobbies and interests as well as your relationships with others. We looked at the philosophy of marginal gains which dramatically improved the performance of the British Cycling Team in the buildup to the London 2012 Olympics and beyond.  Small improvements in lots of different areas led to greater success, not just in terms of Olympic gold medals but also in world record times and success in the Tour de France. The cycling team considered every area of their training from the design of the bike and material used to make their race suits, to the detailed analysis of training and diet as well as the type of pillows that the cyclists used to improve their sleep. They also painted the inside of the vehicles which transported the equipment white, so that any dust which could damage the bikes, was easy to spot and could be cleaned away.  

The challenge to ‘get better’ can be incredibly daunting and impractical. However, by breaking things down into smaller steps, and making simple, yet effective, improvements, we eventually see great progress. I challenged the boys to make those small marginal gains this week. 

This week saw a number of football fixtures, the IAPS swimming qualifiers and even some cross-country. Amongst the last week of rehearsals for the Year 4 play, almost 50 boys also performed in two teatime concerts this week.  

Thursday saw the boys wearing an eclectic range of headwear as part of World Book Day: well done to everyone for making such a great effort. Thank you also to everyone who donated books for the book sale run by PAWS, and a huge thank you to those PAWS representatives who gave up their time to collect donations and run the book sale on the day. Not only was lots of money raised for PAWS, but it was also a great pleasure to see so many boys buying books and then sitting in the middle of the playground engrossed in their new purchase! 

With best wishes, 
John Bond