From the Head

THE PERSE EXPLORATION SOCIETY IS BACK! YEAR 8 AND 9 PUPILS ENJOYED A SAFE OUTDOOR ADVENTURE AT LITTLE ABINGTON IN OCTOBER, FOLLOWING ALL THE LATEST COVID-19 REGULATIONS.

Perspective is an essential human quality that comes with life experience and as such can be lacking in the young. This coupled with hormones and changes in the adolescent brain explains why some teenagers can be prone to over-reactions.

But if the youthful inexperience of students means they can lack perspective, the age of the school can compensate by providing examples that put presentday challenges in their place. David Jones’s article on page 12 examines the occasions when in over 400 years The Perse has closed. It is a short article because there haven’t been many such times, but bubonic plague in 1666 and the Luftwaffe in 1941 did force previous Heads to close the school.

In 2020 The Perse never completely shut, and throughout the lockdown we were open to the children of key workers – many of whose parents were busy on the neighbouring Addenbroke's hospital site. We are now delighted to be fully re-open and enjoying the benefits of face-to-face (if socially distant) teaching, ultra-clean classrooms (pupils disinfect desks before and after use), and fresh air (classroom windows are wide open whatever the weather).

Alongside these traditional infection control measures, we have acquired our own Samba II PCR testing machine with Covid-19 results in less than 90 minutes – meaning a pupil tested in period 1 can be back for period 3 assuming a negative result!

Covid-19 has thrown us all challenges, and I am delighted by The Perse response. Pupils and staff have adjusted their daily routines, our cleaners are doing a wonderful job to keep us safe, and our caterers are producing excellent lunches in difficult circumstances. We continue to deliver public benefit, albeit remotely, with staff and students producing online learning material for the 23 primary and secondary schools in our outreach programme. And the generosity of Old Perseans has helped us fund emergency hardship bursaries so that families hit hard by the health and economic effects of the pandemic can keep their children at The Perse. When life falls apart around children, the continuity and stability of their education are essential.

Despite the headwinds and the turbulence, The Perse continues to do what it has always done and focus on the academic, pastoral and the extra-curricular development of pupils. We are well placed to survive and thrive, and if The Perse can see off bubonic plague in 1666 it can overcome Covid-19 in 2020.

With best wishes,

Ed Elliott