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CEO’S WELCOME
AFRICANS, MEXICANS AND ROMANS
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to our inaugural newsletter, the first of what we hope to be a termly magazine to promote, celebrate and share the amazing things you do every day to make life better for our students.
Several African languages have an expression, which translates as, “it takes a village to raise a child.” The sentiment of this Igbo and Yoruba proverb exists in different forms in many African languages. The basic meaning is that child upbringing is a communal effort. This collective responsibility in raising children is also seen in the Sukuma proverb “One knee does not bring up a child” and in the Swahili proverb “One hand does not nurse a child.”
The parallels with BET’s approach to education are perhaps selfevident. We are a growing community of education professionals and there can be no disputing that we are stronger together as participants in a shared endeavour.
The noun education has two different, but related, Latin roots: educare to mould and educere to lead out. Education, therefore, resonates strongly with our key values encapsulated in the three simple words fundamental to our schools’ DNA: enjoy respect achieve.
It is perhaps difficult to pull together as a village if you do not know your neighbours. We will, therefore, be working hard this year to promote and celebrate BET culture. I hope you will enjoy reading the news highlights from our schools – there are many to choose from! – together with BET updates and regular interviews with BET central staff. Our hope for this magazine is to provide you with useful, interesting content which gives a sense of the passion and commitment that permeates our schools.
As we grow we must none of us lose sight of the fact that we all have a salary slip because we are here to serve children. Equally important is that we protect and promote our key values, culture and ethos; if we become an amorphous, bureaucratic and remote machine, more at home in an Orwellian tale, then we will have failed in our core purpose.
I hope you enjoy today. In the spirit of collaboration, we invite you to take pictures of yourselves with BET colleagues from other schools, which can be sent to betinset@bohunttrust.com. We will use these pictures to create a photo-montage, to be shared with schools throughout the Trust.
There is much to be proud of as we embark on the new academic year and it is a privilege to work with you. I look forward to meeting you shortly at Bohunt School Wokinghamand look out for the green chickens!
