Headmaster's Notes 01
(Summer 1957)

ST. Mary's Grammar School for Girls will open in September, and we extend a warm welcome to the first Headmistress, Miss N. Hornsby. Miss Hornsby is a graduate of King's College, London. An English specialist, she has been Senior Mistress at Sydenham High School. We wish our sister school every success.

It is now nearly two years since some 190 boys and ten masters assembled for the first time in a building, whose style of architecture, owing nothing to tradition, can best be described as functional. With the passage of time, we are no longer so conscious of the vast areas of glass and brick which surround us, and no one visiting the school to-day can fail to notice the change which a living community is effecting.

To establish a tradition of scholarship requires much more than a brief two years, but in other fields of activity the school can already point to substantial progress.

The building shows ample evidence of the work of the Handicraft and Art departments, and mention must be made of the two fine mural paintings in the Assembly Hall. Mr. Plenderleith's illustration depicts the story of St. Nicholas on board ship in the storm, while Mr. Tilbrook's subject is another legend concerning St. Nicholas who is said to have replaced the heads of two horses after the animals had been killed by some Roman soldiers. In the mural, the saint is shown on horseback riding past the astonished troops. These pictures help to make St. Nicholas much more than a name, and add a fine finish to the hall, now at last provided with proscenium curtains.

Much thought has gone to the stocking and organisation of the library, and it is well on the way to becoming what Mr. Saltmarsh called "the heart and core of every grammar school". Approval has already been given to the printing in the school of curtains for the library.

That the school has achieved some promising results in rugby and cricket is a tribute to the boys and staff who are working under difficulties. Work on the playing field is now proceeding, but the dry spring has put off sowing until the autumn of this year, so that there cannot be even limited use until 1959. However, we rejoice to hear the noise of the tractors as evidence that work is going on. 

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This issue of the magazine contains an important article on the Sixth Form, which I should like to supplement with a few general remarks about the opportunities open to grammar school boys. No boy need now be debarred from training for a profession by lack of means. Not only is there a generous system of "Major County Awards" for boys able to take advantage of a university or equivalent course, but there are equally generous apprenticeship schemes at various levels in an increasing number of industrial and commercial concerns. Advice on careers is a subject which has been considerably developed in recent years, and it is not common nowadays for a boy to find himself in a career for which he is unfitted by aptitude or temperament. In conclusion I would emphasise the importance of the home in helping boys in that development of character which is the key to happiness and success in life. A day school, however good the academic training, and the opportunities it gives boys to acquire a wider cultural background, needs the support of the home if equality of opportunity is to mean anything.