Category Archives: girl

Dear Hope

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12 publishers rejected her manuscript before Bloomsbury grudgingly took a gamble on a book about a young magician.  Its author was a single mother living on welfare support.   ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ changed her life – and enhanced the lives of millions of readers. 

Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman was 50 when he became an icon of the silver screen.  Before that he worked in the US Air Force; as a children’s entertainer and as a stage actor.  He won an Oscar at the age of 67.

The world record for the most driving tests ever taken before passing is held by a lady in South Korea.  She passed at the age of 69.  It was her 960th attempt.  Her motivation?  To better protect her family business selling vegetables – and a desire to drive her grandchildren to the zoo.

The thing that unites these three people – and thousands upon thousands of others who have achieved their dreams –  is that they had goals.  And they had hope.

The word hope might be mistaken for naïve optimism, for blind faith, or for simply “crossing our fingers” and waiting for things to improve.   But true hope is a dynamic, courageous and transformative force that fuels action, sustains resilience and gives meaning to struggle.

In the words of the American writer, Rebecca Solnit:

“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.”

In this part of the world, we are fortunate to enjoy incredible opportunities for which we should be daily grateful.  Equally, however privileged we are, life is unpredictable.

We each face setbacks, losses, disappointments.  Without hope, these moments can feel final.  But hope reframes them—not as endings, but as chapters in a larger story. 

As the great Revd Dr Martin Luther King once observed:  “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”  King’s words are a masterclass in emotional strength. Disappointment is real and a part of life. But hope reminds us that pain is temporary and failure is fuel.   As I said to the School during last Wednesday’s assembly, failure is a teacher, not an undertaker.  Hope doesn’t erase difficulty — but it can transform it.  It gives direction to our efforts and dignity to our failures. It’s the compass that keeps us moving, even when the path is unclear.

As an Arsenal fan, I hope that we win the Premier League this season.  Finally.  I can action this hope by supporting the team.  However, there are limits to hope.  It should not become delusional.  My childhood hope that I score the winner for the Gunners in the FA Cup Final is unlikely to come true.  There’s no point fuelling that one.  However, I could, for example, campaign for professional football to share more of its wealth with good causes. 

The great campaigners in history, have been willing to ‘be the change they wanted to see in the world’.  Malala, Ghandhi, Martin Luther King.   The people who make change happen are endlessly hopeful. 

The enemies of hopefulness are despair and cynicism. 

Teddy Roosevelt, who served as the 26th president of the US, cautioned against the “cheap temptation” to be cynical.  “The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer”. 

We don’t really do sneering at Shrewsbury, I’m glad to say!   We are participators in ‘serious fun’.  We reflect on what went well; we consider how best to improve.  We do not retreat to the sidelines, criticising. 

In one of the most stirring pieces of writing, Roosevelt urges hope and action, over cynicism and despair:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat…”

Powerful stuff indeed.

In her excellent book, How to Build a Girl, the marvellous Caitlin Moran also writes against the temptation to recline into lazy cynicism:

“When cynicism becomes the default language, playfulness and invention become impossible. Cynicism scours through a culture like bleach, wiping out millions of small, seedling ideas. Cynicism means your automatic answer becomes “No.” Cynicism means you presume everything will end in disappointment.

And this is, ultimately, why anyone becomes cynical. Because they are scared of disappointment. Because they are scared someone will take advantage of them. Because they are fearful their innocence will be used against them — that when they run around gleefully trying to cram the whole world in their mouth, someone will try to poison them.”

We do have to be savvy; street-wise. Not every individual is trustworthy; not every organisation is benevolent.  But, the default must surely remain with hopeful optimism.

The great Maya Angelou once said: “There is nothing quite so tragic as a young cynic”.  Agreed.  This place, this school, is the least cynical place I’ve ever worked. On the whole, I think this is because our School encourages a constructive, hopeful approach to life.  That it is better to get stuck in, than to stand on the side-lines and comment; that you get more out if you put more in.  That it is the creators, the optimists, the constructors, who make a difference.  That nobody ever put up a monument to a critic.

There is nothing more hopeful than youth.  And no time more hopeful than the beginning of a new chapter of our lives.

Yet, our children are growing up in world of exceptional complexity.  The online world is full of possibility – for good, for learning, for connection.  Equally, the negative influences and gloom-mongers can spread fear and anxiety.  We need to protect and equip the young to manage this mixture of messages.  To tell fact from spin; to interpret the world with critical intelligence; to live with optimism that is grounded in pragmatism.  How do I live a good and full life?  Hope is the fuel.  Virtues, the road map.

In a world that sometimes feels chaotic, divided or uncertain, hope is not a luxury—it is a necessity. It is the quality that keeps us grounded; the energy that keeps us moving and the light that keeps us believing – in ourselves and in others.

The great Emily Dickinson offers a memorable avian image for hope:

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tune without the words—and never stops at all.”

Hope is persistent. It sings. It endures even in storms.  And it never stops.

However fortunate we are, life is not always straight forward.  Certainly, we are incredibly lucky in this particular place to be surrounded by opportunity; by good people who share a common purpose.  That said, not every day is a cake-walk.  We grow through challenge; we will each have to face down adversity at different stages of our lives:  “we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” [1 Peter]

The beginning of a senior school journey, is one of the most wonderfully hopeful times in life. Whilst we don’t want to wrap our children in cotton wool, we do want to nurture and grow them towards independent life in a world of great complexity and opportunity.  School is both a sanctuary and a training ground.  

As we cultivate the Salopian virtues of wisdom, courage and kindness; integrity; self-mastery and spirit – it is my fervent hope that the distinctive energy and participative optimism of the Salopian community will inspire them to find their path and achieve their personal bests.  I celebrate the power of hope—not as a passive feeling, but as a healthy mindset that leads to action.

Here’s to positive engagement; to thinking for ourselves.  Here’s to resilience and bouncebackability; to making change happen from the inside – for the good of ourselves and the good of others. 

Here’s to hope.

Because hope is contagious.  Because with hope, almost anything is possible—even if it takes 960 attempts.

Dear Emma

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It seems that the whole world wants a tiny slice of your time and your head must be spinning. Yet, as with everything else apparently, you have it all under control.

18 years old, Grand Slam champion, instant global icon. Seeing how you played; seeing how you talk about how you played, sends us all to raid the thesaurus.

Gutsy, courageous, spirited.

Composed, cool-headed, calm under pressure.

Exuberant, joyful, zesty.

Authentic, grounded, genuine.

The real deal.

A champion.

Already an icon.

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Emma Raducanu – Image from SkySports

Your style of play makes you a mesmerising watch. Your conduct off the court is equally compelling.

Few will experience the scrutiny that you have already been exposed to – and at such a young age. Not many have accomplished a breakthrough quite as explosive as yours. And at the age of 18.

I think back to my 18 year old self. Best not to dwell too long on the messy mix of self-doubt and self-righteousness; flashes of confidence undercut by a need for acceptance, validation, the applause of the crowd. Faults and double faults smoke-screened by bluster. It was all McEnroe and not enough Borg in my case. (That dates me). It was the line judges. The racquet. The sun in my eyes. The cross wind that made me fluff the ball toss. Yes, it took me a long while to take responsibility.

Then there’s you. Not only a champion, an athlete, a history-maker, an achiever of sporting miracles. But also, it seems, utterly unfazed by the feverish swirl of the moment. You are at home with yourself and your surroundings. Poised. At one with yourself. Real.

We have a saying at my school – Intus Si Recte Ne Labora: “If right within, worry not“. In your game, you have to stay within the lines. Yet you do it with such freedom. You make exceptional look so easy. Something so sublime, so uncomplicated in its excellence is the fruit of hard work; of gifts diligently cultivated.

You praised your parents – for their strong values and demanding standards; you deflected glory onto your team; the support of others. All true, and deserved praise, no doubt.

But let’s be honest. This is about you. You radiate something purely brilliant. You are right within. And you will inspire others – many many others – to discover and share their light.

Character as true and as luminous as yours can only come from within. From the person you are. You have lit up the sporting world. As you go on, surely to further glories, I hope your unique light shines on unfiltered and true.

International day of the girl

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Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani politician who served as prime minister of Pakistan from 1988-1990 and again from 1993-1996. She was the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim majority nation.  Ideologically liberal, and a secularist, she was a controversial figure in Pakistan, feared and revered in equal measure for her modernising views and charismatic leadership.

Bhutto’s political life is far too complex to do justice to in just a few minutes, dogged as it was by controversy and accusations of bribery, nepotism and corruption; Bhutto was ousted from power through a rigged election. After a period of time in opposition, she came to power again.  Although her efforts at reform and liberalisation were thwarted, her name was synonymous with democracy and she became a global icon of women’s rights.  Bhutto was respected in the west as a stateswoman of global reach and significance.

After losing elections in 1997 and 1998, Bhutto went into self-exile in Dubai from whence she continued to lead her party through proxies. She returned to Pakistan in 2007 to contest the 2008 elections.  She knew well her return to Pakistan put her own life at risk.  Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide bomb attack in Rawalpindi.  Al Qaeda claimed responsibility, although the Pakistani Taliban were widely suspected as being behind the attack that ended her life at the age of 54.

Spool forward half a decade. On the 9th October 2012, Malala Yousafsai was climbing onto a bus in Taliban-ruled North Western Pakistan.  She was 14 years old.  As she boarded the bus, a gunman appeared, asked for her by name, and shot her in the head.  She was left for dead.  Miraculously, however, Malala survived the attack.  She and her family were flown over to the UK and settled in Birmingham.  The reason for the attack, for which the hard-line Taliban claimed responsibility, was an open diary that Malala has been writing and publishing, under a pen name, arguing and campaigning for the rights of women and, in particular, for the right for girls to receive an education.

The story of her recovery – from delicate surgery at a Pakistani military hospital to further operations and rehabilitation in the UK, was widely covered in the media. Malala was discharged from hospital in January 2013 and her life now is unimaginably different to anything she may have envisaged when she was an anonymous voice chronicling the fears of schoolgirls under the shadow of the Taliban.

Malala has become an international symbol for, and advocate of, the fight to improve girls’ literacy around the world. She is iconic of the power of human will to overcome brutality and marginalisation.  In 2014, Malala became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  This year she was made the youngest ever UN Messenger of Peace.

Earlier this week, exactly 5 years to the day that she was shot, Malala began a course in PPE at Oxford University. She is at Lady Margaret Hall, the same college that Benazir Bhutto had attended, and following the very same course.  In Bhutto’s day it was an all-women college (as it was when my mother was there); in Malala’s, it is a mixed college (as it was when I was at the same college): co-education has become very much the norm in our part of the world.

Indeed, we live in a part of the world where the idea of equal access to education is taken as read; a given. Lucky us.  The world still has a long way to go, even in our supposedly enlightened times, before we have a society where girls and women enjoy equality and fairness.

A BBC article published on 10th October listed the 10 toughest places in the world for girls’ education.  9 of the 10 countries listed are in Africa.  In the Central African Republic there is one teacher for every 80 pupil; in Niger only 17% of women between the ages of 15 and 24 are literate.  Only 1 in a 100 girls Burkina Faso completes secondary school.  In Ethiopia, over 40% of girls are married before the age of 18 – this applies across all of sub-Saharan Africa.

Yesterday (11th October) was international day of the girl.  And with over 130 million girls still out of school, the global campaign for the right of access to schooling and education for girls is as urgent as ever.  Icons such as Malala, following in the footsteps of her own hero Benazir Bhutto, can influence and draw attention to the host of issues that affect girls and women across the world: poverty, disempowerment, lack of education, sexual and physical abuse.

Who knows what things Malala will go on to achieve in her life? Because she has been exceptionally brave; because she has been exceptionally fortunate to escape an attempt on her life; because she is using her extraordinary voice to change the world; and because she knows the liberating power of a good education.