34 minute read
FEATURES
REPTON’S RESPONSE TO
THE CURRENT HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN UKRAINE
Repton is a diverse community, with a shared interest in humanity. With both Ukrainian and Russian pupils at our school, the line of response that Repton has taken regarding the situation in Ukraine has been to react to the humanitarian crisis that has been created as a result of the conflict. Repton has been sending all fundraising proceeds to the ‘Disasters Emergency Committee,’ who are an umbrella group of charities that coordinate emergency aid to people in humanitarian disasters.
As a school, we have taken several measures to ensure that we proactively support those who have been impacted by the war. In the second half of the Lent term, the Art Department (led by IJW) set up a pop-up art gallery, selling artwork from Tom Voyce and Ian Whitfield, as well as other members of the wider Repton community, with all revenue going to the DEC. There have also been fundraisers that the whole school could participate in, from a home clothes day to a ‘Festival of Sport’ (where Reptonians successfully attempted to play enough hours of sport to cover the time it would take to walk from Repton to Ukraine).
It has been incredible to see the Repton community take part in the multifarious fundraisers, utilising our inward resources to create a more outward looking school body. Through social media, we have been able to see where these funds are going and the positive way that, as a community, we can impact those who are more vulnerable than ourselves. As a school, we will look to reaffirm the momentum that we have gathered thus far in this area and will continue to generate new fundraising ideas from the pupils in the future. The start of the summer term brought two Ukrainians to Repton Prep, who have been sponsored to attend the school, as well as news that any currently unused housing owned by the school will be offered up to Ukrainian refugees. We also have two Ukrainians joining us in the Sixth Form in September and plan on pointing future donations to the ‘Theo Trust,’ who will further provide educational opportunities to children who are suffering from trauma or tragedy. In the meantime, the grounds team have planted sunflowers – the national flower of Ukraine – around the school, as an everyday reminder of the need for solidarity and advocacy for the humans who are suffering in the face of this crisis.
Thanks to AFP for coordinating fundraising efforts, and for her help with this article.
Polly R L6A
A CONVERSATION WITH
THE CHAPLAIN
We sat down with Father Adam, who has returned as Chaplain after five years, and if we gathered nothing else from the conversation – we are so happy he’s back here with us at Repton!
Did you always know you wanted to be a Chaplain?
I think that the things we end up doing often start with a little bit of hero worship when we’re younger. There was an old priest called Bill Reilly when I was growing up, and he's the nearest thing to a father confessor I think I ever had. I thought Bill was just the most wonderful man, in the way that he was wiser than me, caring, so giving and thoughtful, and I owe him everything really, after my parents. I think he was the one that crystallised the thought in my mind that, ‘I’d like to be like him if I could’, and I’m a poor imitation of him, but he was certainly the one that I thought ‘You’re the man I think I’d like to be.’
Have you always believed in God – was there any ‘click’ moment?
I never had a ‘Damascus Road’ experience; but what I would say is that I've had coincidences, and I live by a little quotation from Michael Ramsey – ‘When I pray, coincidences happen. And when I stop praying, they seem to stop.’
When I was 18, thinking of university, I thought I’d like to have a go at Oxford. It was a long shot, it really was, but my old deaconess had given me a little painting of Holman Hunt’s ‘The Light of the World’, and I remember one of the most earnest prayers in my life was praying to God, using that little picture to say, ‘Please can give me a sign that Oxford might be the place for me.’
After an open day at Oxford, I was walking across Liddon Quad with a third-year student who asked me if I had seen Keble’s Chapel. I said that I hadn’t the time, as I was going to miss my train home (he had been walking me back to the station), but he insisted that ‘You’ve got to see the Chapel!’ So, we raced there, and into side Chapel. There was some wooden panelling on the wall, and I remember, Richard, this third-year student, saying how it was strange, as usually the alarms would be going off. He then opened the wooden panelling to reveal Holman Hunt’s ‘The Light of the World.’
It turns out, and I did not know this as I was praying to that little picture, that Holman Hunt was so peed off with St Pauls for charging to see the original painting, that he painted a second one, and gave it to Keble College. As I stood there in front of the painting, I thought it was quite the omen. I do think that there are little coincidences that happen that seem to be beyond coincidence, however you want to explain that.
Do you think that life is made up of all these small coincidences?
You asked me what it's like being the Chaplain and I spend most of my time feeling out of my depth. The little coincidences that sometimes happen, are I think for me, the way that God is reassuring me that he is there and will give me the right words to say.
One of the most beautiful things that happened to me as Chaplain here at Repton was at an OR dinner in my third year as Chaplain. After a little service that they had, I went to tidy up the Chapel as I didn't know any ORs at this point. I went into the Chapel and sat at the back was an old man, who said he was an OR asked if I was the new Chaplain. He spoke to me about the struggles in his life and how he finally felt that now, he was beginning to overcome them. Although he'd signed up for the dinner, he said he wasn't going to stay for it because that wasn't the point. The point was to come back to Repton chapel and sit where he had sat as a boy. We then both hugged and I thought ‘Gosh, how could God resist this man, who had obviously gone through the battle of his life, and yet remembered the place where years ago, he had said his prayers and thought ‘I am just quietly going to sit at the back here and say those prayers of thanks’. I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen here.
It must be rewarding getting stories come full circle?
It’s funny, you very rarely see the end product. You hope perhaps that you might have sowed a little thought in someone's mind. However, the Chaplain that he referred to is long since dead, and after leaving I thought how sad it was that the Chaplain wouldn't have known the crucial seed that he sowed in that man's mind; that indelible memory of the experience of prayer in the Chapel, and I thought how lucky I was to see the end product that sadly he wouldn't have.
This is very heavy for a magazine, isn’t it?! I feel the need to tell you about some sporting failure!
What is the most fulfilling thing about your job?
I'm not the best priest you'll ever meet, but when I get to the pearly gates and meet God, as a hope I do, the one thing that I'll ask him to take into account is that I have all my faults, but I never
forgot the privilege of this job, and the fact that because of the collar that I wear, people sometimes trust me - and that's a gulp moment when they do. When they say, 'I'm just about to tell you something which I wouldn't tell many people,' and you think, 'My word’, the privilege I have.
Also, that lovely feeling when I come through Willington, go over the little bridge, and I see all the lights on in School House. I come over the hill and I have this lovely feeling of ‘Ah - these are my people; these are the people I love. This is my community.’
What is your favourite thing about Repton as a community?
I'm not playing to the gallery here, but when Reptonians come in a room, you reach out and chat, and I love that about you. That lovely nature which reaches out to people and is prepared to talk to them. Because I don't think that's the law and sometimes, for good reason, people are cautious and guarded, but I love the warmth of Reptonians. If I can say it - and you'll take it the right way - I love the fact that you are chatterboxes! I love it!
I did my first OR wedding two weeks ago, and I love that moment when ORs all gather round each other for the OR picture after the wedding. The fact that they may not have seen much of each other for months, maybe years, but the bond that was struck here is so profound that you could just pick up where you left off. The way they all sit with each other; there's a composure and a relaxedness about them. And I think about how lovely it is to have those people in your lives. The people that know you and you know them; it doesn't get much better than that, does it!
Is there a piece of advice that you’ve been given that's stuck with you till now?
Cling to the wreckage. By that I mean that the gardens and lawns of our life are never at exact right angles - there's always something that goes wrong. And I think that sometimes you cling to the very core things that make you who you are, to get you through. Hopefully Repton is able to provide you with the resilience to cope with whatever life is going to throw at you in the future.
But I think that my little wreckage that I cling to is God. I like to think that I’m encircled by this little holy huddle of people, alive and dead, who love me. And I think, aren’t we lucky, when you think that we have been lucky enough to know what it is like to be loved, and what a tragedy for people who just don’t know what that feels like. I think that’s quite something to cling onto! I also think that it is so important to find a way to love yourself. For all of us, one of the biggest challenges is to learn to find a way to live with ourselves because, and I think this is something that Christianity does definitely get right, that so often it's the good that we want to do, that we don't do, and it is the bad that we don't want to do, that we end up doing. So often we can find ourselves at odds with each other, and it helps me to think, that if God is able to love me, then I should be able to damn well love myself.
UPDATE
REPTON INTERNATIONAL
Since the last edition of The Reptonian, our international family has grown to seven schools – four in the UAE, one in China, one in Malaysia, and now one in Egypt. The original purpose in establishing these schools was to provide income to fund bursaries for pupils less-able to afford a Repton education, as well as to help fund development projects here at the UK school. Since opening its first school in Dubai in 2007, Repton International has contributed over £5 million to the School. This figure is growing every year. Not only do the international schools provide much-needed income but they also offer a wealth of opportunities for collaboration and cultural exchange, broadening our pupils’ horizons, as well as providing opportunities for our staff to share ideas and good practice.
OUR LATEST ADDITION
Repton Cairo opened in September 2021 with 87 pupils (just over 90 at the time of writing), ranging from Nursery to Year 6. The School boasts excellent facilities and is situated in the prestigious Mivida community in New Cairo. Repton Cairo is a wonderfully warm and welcoming school community with a great sense of energy and a real appreciation for the joy of learning. Reptonians can choose from a wide variety of high quality co-curricular activities and STEM (or STREAM as they prefer to call it) sits at the heart of the curriculum there, with ‘maker spaces’ and fantastic resources for robotics and programming.
It is envisaged that pupil numbers will double from September 2022 as the Year 6s also move up into Year 7, their first year of Secondary school. In due course, Repton Cairo will be joined by a sister school, also in Cairo, on the Western side of the city.
COLLABORATIONS
Over the past year, a number of projects have been initiated to bring Repton and its international family closer together. Now that travel restrictions have eased, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting all our UAE schools and have also spent time at the Cairo school, with a trip to Repton Malaysia planned for June 2022. Headmaster Mark Semmence also visited Repton Cairo to take part in its opening event.
Pupils at all our schools participated in the inaugural Repton International Debating Festival, debating live across three time zones via Microsoft Teams and learning all about the British Parliamentary style of debates (more on that from Sophie D (L6M) in the Repton Round section of this publication). Pupils from our UAE schools also contributed to the Repton Historian this year, bringing their perspectives to bear on topical issues such as the end of the US occupation of Afghanistan. In addition, a project to pair able pupils from our school in China with some of our Scholars at the UK site has also begun. We hope to bring you more updates on collaborations with our international schools as they emerge and, in the meantime, look out for news regarding the reinstitution of an international exchange..!
This year also marked the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of Repton Dubai. Repton UK sent a number of artefacts and documents from our archives, charting the history of the School, to be displayed as part of Repton Dubai’s ‘Repton Heritage’ exhibition.
Finally, Repton hosted an event for Repton Dubai alumni at the Hurlingham club in June 2022 to give those former pupils a chance to catch and connect and to forge stronger links with the UK school.
NEXT STEPS
As the world continues to open up, we look forward to further opportunities for connection, collaboration and exchange. And in the meantime hope to bring you more news of our Qatar and Bulgaria projects as they start to take shape.
Daniel Lewis Managing Director Repton International Schools Ltd
INTERVIEW WITH
JAYNE FALCONER
BY LOTTIE W (L6G)
Jayne Falconer visited Repton in the Autumn term of 2021, bringing with her various intricate pieces and sculptures from her collection of work titled ‘Nine’. Studying Textiles and English made me the perfect candidate to ask Jayne some questions about her meaningful collection, investigating the root of her inspiration and how she has used clay as a medium to express prominent issues and reestablish a form of identity. This long-anticipated exhibition of sculptural works depicting a woman finding her voice through the manipulation of clay. Luckily, she agreed to do this interview and I hope you enjoy learning more about this incredibly interesting artist. One of the first pieces I was drawn to was Jayne’s shoe collection, at the bottom of the display case was a picture of the former shoes which were now encased in clay and a date below them. I instantly knew what my first question would be.
Jayne, firstly what’s the deal with the shoes?!
When I was first thinking of what I wanted to do with my collection and how I wanted it to manifest I had gone into my bedroom cupboard and pulled out all my shoes onto the bedroom floor and I started thinking about other things and in my shoes was my life story. I had one pair from when I was 18 and suddenly, I saw how the shoes could produce an autobiographical timeline.
You have got such a varied display of pieces here and they are all so different and meaningful in their own ways, but do you have a favourite?
[Jayne without hesitation gestured to the small display cabinets on the wall, displaying feathers, keys and more minute objects encased in clay]
The 27 little ones – because it had never been exhibited before and it looked so good and as an artist, I was not used to seeing small pieces have a lovely space where they could be truly seen and investigated. It allowed me to view them in a different light. This collection has been the most emotionally beneficial, allowing emotion and my personal journey to be associated with the objects.
Who are your main artistic influences?
That would be Louise Boujua and Antony Carro.
Why is clay you’re favourite medium to use?
Well, that’s because its malleable and very stretchy and forgiving. For example with paper I find it really difficult because it tears, and it messes up and I touch it and it crinkles. However, with porcelain you can do so many things with it. It's like having a white paper background, if you were to paint on black paper, you’re not going to have the same effect or the same contrast but clay allows the hues and depths of what I’m creating to be seen.
CLEISTHENES
How long does it take to create a piece?
Oh, they are quite quick; some can take up to 20 minutes sometimes it’s an hour, but they have a very long drying process as they have to dry completely to reach the best point and then the firing process takes two weeks.
Where do you find inspiration is my next question?
I think for inspiration I go to galleries where I’m looking at other artists work and how they use experimentation. Sometimes it’s about just seeing an object or some material and getting inspiration. Other times it’s just playing with things. With the shoes I was looking in my wardrobe and thinking about the shoes I could still wear and the ones I couldn’t, and I was wondering what I could do with the shoes I no longer used and then I got the idea. So, it really depends.
When is your favourite time of day to create?
I’m always better in the morning as the brain works better then and sometimes it depends if I have time and whether I’m in the right space.
Has this collection been a beneficial outlet for anything hectic or crazy going on in your life?
It’s definitely a good outlet. Most of this work was me figuring out how I was going to be an independent woman after my divorce. The clay was a way to verbalise what I was feeling.
Finally, and most importantly in my opinion, what motivates you to create?
I think it’s the same for a lot of artists, we aren’t happy if we aren’t making something. You kind of feel a bit lost as you aren’t creating something.
I’d like to thank Jayne for visiting Repton to showcase her collection and wish her all the best in her future endeavours! Father of the pillar of the modern world, The moral backbone of this earth’s fragile body, This man, the pioneer of freedom, the true ‘Democrat’
Started the long and bumpy route to equal rights for all.
Leader, lawgiver, constitutional trailblazer, Jefferson a proponent, a mere supporter, Cleisthenes the core, the sole founder.
Yet criminally, criminally underappreciated.
Most believe this to be an unshakeable truth, But for some, somewhere this fight, Fought by Cleisthenes with valour an aeon ago, Is still ongoing with fervent intensity.
Fisayo A 9N
THE ONE-INCH-TALL BARRIER ON
THE BEAUTY OF FOREIGN FILMS
BY MARY B (U6M)
As someone who adores watching films, I think it is a mighty shame that our society is so averse to films which are not in English. Despite the popularity of recent international pictures such as Roma and Parasite (the latter even won Best Picture, a truly ground-breaking achievement), it seems that foreign-language films still massively struggle to break through in the Anglophone world. When you consider the many brilliant films that world cinema has to offer, any argument as to their inconvenience to non-native speakers must pale into insignificance. In this piece, I will do my best to argue that there is much to be gained from widening your horizons by exploring the films of other countries… even if you cannot understand a word of the dialogue.
Films tend to be products of both their culture and time. This means that, by sticking to only British and American films, there is a limit to the kinds of stories that we expose ourselves to. Foreign films, by virtue of being from different cultures, tell unique and fascinating stories and use the medium of cinema in new and innovative ways. Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy (2013) is a Thai coming-of-age film which follows a teenage girl called Mary during her last few months of high school. Now, while this may not sound particularly ground-breaking, the origins of the film itself and the way the story develops are really interesting. Director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit used 410 tweets from the Twitter account of a 17-year old Thai girl and then constructed a whole story around these unrelated and abstract musings. The tweets pop up on screen throughout the film, and his ability to make such a random and varied mixture of thoughts (ranging from the profound "I'm old since birth. That's it." to the bizarre “Wanna steal some cake”) into a coherent narrative is truly impressive. Using such a novel concept and unique source material, the elements of comedy, drama, tragedy and general teenage angst make it a film that feels both realistic and engrossing. Strangely enough, the very fact that the film was subtitled only served to enhance it. Given that I do not know a word
of Thai, the whole film was pretty much in the Twitter format when you think about me sat there reading sentences. I feel like it made the humour funnier, the more deep parts of the dialogue/tweets truly stand out and the melodramatic teen parts that bit more ridiculous. Generally, it served to really elevate what was already an intriguing premise.
The ability of so many directors around the globe to pioneer new ways of film-making and tell stories in ways they have not been told before are huge reasons for the importance of international cinema and why we ought to spend more time exploring it.
Foreign films can also be useful in giving an insight into different historical and political contexts. Often, they succeed in bringing to life what academic history cannot: the individual stories of the people who lived through history. The 1964 masterpiece I Am Cuba is an anthology film with four discrete stories told in the final days of the Batista regime – following poor women forced to prostitute themselves, pauperised farmers, student revolutionaries and the guerrilla soldiers of Castro himself. Unashamedly anti-American Soviet propaganda from director Mikhail Kalatazov, it is a stylistically impressive film with sequences of shots so visually arresting, they still astonish nearly 60 years on. Yet what I found most powerful about these stories was how, using the medium of film, they captured a mood that no historian could possibly verbalise or accurately portray – the tragedy, exploitation, hope and camaraderie played out on the screen. Now, I concede that these people were actors and that what I was watching wasn’t ‘real’ in the literal sense of the word but I defy you to watch this film and a) not feel as though you have gained a greater understanding of pre-Castro Cuba and b) not feel some kind of deeper compassion for the Cuban people. By engaging with the stories of ordinary people from history, we can truly consider the actual people they were, the lives they led and the feelings they had, rather than merely viewing history through statistics, events and the most famous characters. And so, films, for me at least, make history more human and allow us to connect emotionally with the hopes, fears and dreams of those who came before us and foreign films allow this connection to encompass a great many more people.
My final part of this exhortation to watch foreign films is that Hollywood is simply not good enough. In my humble opinion, the allure of CGI
(and God knows what other technology they are now using!)and the lazy attitude of greedy studios have meant that we are inundated with sequel after sequel and left wanting for goodquality, original storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, great films are still being made and I secretly love the trashy stuff they put out (so much so, I even saw the ninth Fast and Furious film in the cinema and lapped it right up!)… but Hollywood, a teeming cesspit crawling with some of the most amoral people on earth today, simply should not be our only source for films. In places around the world, where the budgets are lower and top technology less available, the focus is more on the stories and characters. For example, Omar (2014) is the first fully-financed film to emerge from the Palestinian film industry (with a budget of just $2 million). It tells the story of three childhood friends and the strain put on their relationships by the conflict. It is a truly fantastic film that I cannot recommend enough and the humour, friendship and betrayal depicted make it truly memorable. Due to limited funds, director Hany Abu-Assad was able to properly utilise the actors, most of whom had never acted before, and create a really emotionally-charged and compelling drama. While high-stakes action sequences and car chases are always going to entertain audiences, we must not become lost in them and continue to expose ourselves to the more human side of filmmaking and storytelling.
I get it! Sometimes you just want an easy watch or some light relief and a film in Spanish about the societal ills of pre-revolutionary Cuba just won’t do that for you. And that’s fine. Nevertheless, I seriously recommend that you at least try to explore more international cinema. It really can give you an appreciation of cultures other than your own, as well as the feeling that there are some universal traits and experiences we share the world over. But don’t just take my word for it. At the Golden Globes, Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho sagely remarked: “once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films”.
Mary B U6M
UKRAINE SPRING
There is a chill calm this morning settling Over the school’s spring-lit stone façade. Somewhere swallows streak the air like missiles Beyond the cordon of the northern cold But for now, the blackbird’s sharp alarm Bells the stumbling pupils into class. Inside, silence hangs like a privilege In rising dust shot through with sunlit shafts.
But a slick of bin bags bursting open Slides across the polished floor, spilling Stuffed toys and sprawling, twisted shapes, with tears On pre-loved-dolls and blank- eyed bears laid down To rest as offerings from small, clean hands To lessen all that loss and all that pain That daily stains the streets of once Ukraine.
JGG
RUSSIAN SPORTSPEOPLE SANCTIONS
FAIR OR NOT?
In light of Russian military action in Ukraine, numerous international sporting bodies such as F1, the IOC and the IPC have banned Russian sportspeople from participating in their respective competitions in 2022.
Whilst the international community is largely united in condemnation of Russian action in Ukraine, this ill-informed decision to ban Russian sportspeople has minimal detrimental impact on the Russian state in general and is in fact punishing innocent civilians for where they happened to be born. In sum, it is very unlikely that this decision will impact the Russian government’s decision-making process; it is merely harming the careers of individuals who are in no way responsible. Those in favour of the ban may argue that it detracts from national pride; however, akin to the 2016 sanctions for systematic doping, this could be simply solved by making athletes compete under a neutral flag. Having initially adopted this sensible approach, which has no negative impact on the athletes themselves, the IPC faced severe backlash from Western media, prompting them to take the step of completely banning all athletes from competing. Unfortunately, many organisations have made a flurry of well-intentioned decisions without fully exploring the consequences they may have on individuals – the desperation to do the right thing seems to overcome good sense and compassion. In my opinion, it is important not to punish individuals for decisions and actions that are beyond their control.
IS THERE A MORAL JUSTIFICATION FOR ABORTION?
The definition of an abortion is ‘the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or foetus. In recent years, access to a safe abortion has been labelled as a fundamental human right by the International Women’s Health Coalition. One of the main reasons why this has not been available in the past is the fact men feel justified in choosing how women can use their bodies. In essence, the abortion debate focuses on whether the mother has the right to terminate the unborn foetus. But can we deem abortion moral?
A prominent argument to consider is the fact that in the first trimester of the pregnancy is where the majority of abortions take place. During this period, the foetus is attached to the mother’s placenta via the umbilical cord and relies on the mothers' vital organs in order to survive; it therefore cannot be deemed its own identity and has no individual rights to survive. Another notable standpoint to consider is the fact that the concept of personhood and the concept of human life are vastly different. During IVF treatments, fertilised eggs are routinely thrown away and this is not deemed murder; therefore, under this premise, abortion cannot be considered an immoral act. Abortion is a safe medical procedure, which does not affect a woman’s future ability to have children and, therefore, if in the future she decides to have children, it does not cause disruption in the pregnancy. Access to a legal abortion means that more safe abortions occur, and less unsafe procedures occur.
Philosopher Judith Jarvis Thompson proposed this argument: imagine that there is famous violinist who has fallen ill and has to rely on your kidneys for the next nine months. Your health may be compromised (but most likely won’t be) and the violinist is strapped to your back. Although the violinist has a right to life, it does not supersede your right to survive or discard the violinist as it they are surviving off your vital organs. These same rules apply to a child. Utilitarianism introduces the perspective of how foetuses do not experience emotions and, therefore, it must follow that the mother’s choice overrules any other external input.
In contrast to this, Kantian ethics can be applied to suggest that abortions are immoral. Immanuel Kant would propose ‘can you guarantee that every woman will agree to having an abortion?’ to which the answer would be no and, therefore, abortion would be deemed immoral as this introduces moral doubt, and we are required to have a strict moral compass under Kantian ethics. Moreover, as the foetus is a product of humans, genetically it is considered a human and therefore has the fundamental right to life. Donald Marquis introduced suggested that, by having an abortion, you are depriving someone of their future, a fact directly comparable to a homicide victim that is being deprived of their future. From a religious perspective, Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians believe that after 14 days, or at conception, the foetus is considered a human being and has a right to life. Only God has the ability to take a life away and we, as humans, cannot, so therefore abortion is immoral. Another conclusive point from a pro-life perspective is that adoption can be considered in the case of rape and incest as it is not the women’s fault, and therefore they should not have to endure the stress that the child’s existence may cause and in certain cases they may not have the ability to provide for the child. However, only 25% of children in the system are adopted, suggesting that it is not always the answer.
In evaluation, abortions are a safe medical procedure which are beneficial in most cases. If a woman wants an abortion this can avoid stress and mental health disorders experienced during pregnancy. In my opinion, we cannot rightly apply Kantian ethics to the debate as there are so many reasons as to why an abortion could be necessary. Whether or not a woman undergoes this procedure is subjective and, ultimately, the pregnant woman has to endure the pain and stress associated with pregnancy and her right to life supersedes that of the unborn foetus.
STORIES SAVE US
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ‘GOOD’ REPRESENTATION, AND QUEER JOY
Iknow that this will come as no surprise, given that I’m an English teacher, but I really do believe in the power of stories. Story-telling is a kind of magic and, like all the best magic, it can be used for good or evil. We have to be careful, when we’re choosing the stories that we listen to. We have to pick carefully which stories we let matter.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, because, mostly, I’ve been thinking about the way that the right kind of story can make a difference, can make a person, any person really, feel seen and valued and loved. This is the most important thing about stories, I think. The way that they can make us feel like we fit in the world. Like we belong.
Representation matters. What I have noticed, as I’ve got older and the children I teach stay more or less the same age (though, of course, the faces change), is that the kind of stories – be they books, film or, in this age of streaming, Netflix shows – that are available are a world away from the kind of stories that people my age had access to as teenagers. Authors like Adam Silvera and Patrick Ness write novels aimed at young adults that describe the young adult experience. Most recently, Heartstopper (released on Netflix in April 2022 and an instant hit in boarding houses across the school) depicted queer joy in a way that I have rarely seen before. The show focuses on a love story between two school boys, Charlie and Nick and, while it doesn’t shy away from issues such as homophobia, it also allows the pair room to be luminously, loudly, joyfully happy in each other’s company. Another of the characters is a trans girl of colour. I spent most of the series worried that she was going to be ‘found out’, bullied for who she was. Thankfully, it never happened. For too long, queer representation in media has focused on ‘issues’ and it was refreshing to see queer teenagers just living their lives. Just being, in peace. We need more stories like that.
I thought about this again when I read the pieces that Cameron B (9G) and Jacques H (L6S) have written about their involvement in the Repton Pride Society. Both of them speak about safe spaces, and the need to feel supported and loved in order to feel safe. I wonder what OR Christopher Isherwood (who Hilton Als commented, discovered a passion for both journal writing and boys during his time at Repton) would have thought about it all?
What I think is this: that we can’t have too many stories that tell LGBTQ+ students that it is okay to take up room, to be themselves out where everyone can see it, in the knowledge that they are safe and supported and loved. We all need to be told the right sort of stories, about ourselves, about each other. They help us to see each other for what we really are.
Stories save us. I really believe that.
RER
REPTON'S
UNSUNG HEROES
At Repton, time is something that everyone wants to make most of and yet we never seem to have enough of it. In the course of the busy lives we all lead here, it can be too easy to overlook the huge team that help Repton to be what it is, allowing us to enjoy all the experiences the school has to offer.
For this year's Reptonian we decided to speak to the person who is currently the school's longest serving non-teaching staff member: Graham. As most Reptonians sleep, Graham (who has been working at Repton as a Porter for 21 years) begins his day at 4:00am, getting into school only an hour and a half later. Graham and the team of porters really are the backbone of school, organising everything from setting up exam halls or Speech Day marquees, to making sure classrooms are all in order at the start of each day, or overseeing staff-room refreshments. Graham told us of an incident he labelled ‘Biscuit-gate’, to which a shortage of biscuits led him to rectify the situation by a brisk walk to the Spar (although not so brisk he insisted, as after all, he is 72). Still, disaster was narrowly averted.
At the time of writing, Graham told us that the porters’ next big job would be helping set up for this year’s RockIt, one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. He noted that, perhaps this year, he himself was thinking he would take to the stage sporting a pink wig; he also talked of his previous career working in Film and TV in Australia, which saw him staring as an extra in multiple films. Our time together was brief and, indeed, we felt some sadness that the ringing of the bell for our next lesson marked the end of our conversation with Graham, as he certainly did not seem short of interesting stories to tell.
So, the next time you walk into an event that has been set up, or walk past the Porter’s Lodge on the way to Furneaux, perhaps take a moment to appreciate the work (and the people behind it) that keep Repton ticking over. As Graham joked, 'it's like Disneyland - it all seems to happen by magic’. But it is not some cartoon mouse that is the driving force that keeps Repton going. It is Graham and the porters that are behind this magic.
Sophie D L6M and Florence T L6F
