Posted 06/02/2020

What is the point? If you are a philosopher, a parent, or a teacher this is a question you will have been asked... a lot. “What is the point of algebra? How will it help me in the ‘real world’?” “What is the point of a tie? Most businessmen don’t even wear them?” “What is the point of school? I’m going to be a _______ (insert dream job here)”. Last week saw Fulham Boys School embrace that question with our very first ‘What’s the point of… Week’. We encouraged students to question every aspect of the school day, from poetry to punctuality, in order to squash the myth that the ' real world’ and ‘school’ exist in separate universes, light years apart. We welcomed industry professionals to come in and talk to our boys about their educational and professional journeys and invited them to quiz them about the point of things in the ‘real world’. We can talk all day about the importance of spelling, but until you hear an employer talk about throwing half read CV’s in the bin for spelling mistakes, it is meaningless and abstract.

Posted 15/01/2020

In seven months’ time FBS will be on its permanent site. Take a moment to let that sink in. At the permanent site. In seven months’ time. After six years of knock backs and making the best of it, we are only seven months away. Our journey home is within sight. So what better way to use my first Headmaster’s blog of the new year, even the new decade, to consider: the things we are excited about; the things we will miss; the things that stay the same; and the things we need to do. The things we are excited about Being in a new building where everything just works. Where you can switch on the kettle and not worry it might stop the photocopier working. That when it rains on Open Evening we don’t need to issue hundreds of pairs of wellies just so the Year 6 boys and their parents can make it down the Humanities corridor. Where you haven’t got to walk through a housing estate to get from Music to Maths. Gates that work so you can get in and out the school without the receptionist having to say ‘pull the gate, pull the gate, pull!’ And then having to walk all the way back to reception to be told in order to be let out you need to pull the gate.