A Message from our Headteacher...

 

  During a careers lesson at school I was asked what I wanted to be.  I confidently stated that I wanted to be the next Les Hiddens, otherwise known as the “The Bush Tucker Man”.  After the teacher had asked me to explain who he was he replied, “Well, you’re not going to get much call for that around Retford are you?”

 

I wonder how many other people have negative memories from similar incidents in their school lives.  One thing is for sure, those few seconds that that brief conversation took place in has stayed with me and always will.  That is the power of a school and those who work within it.

 

At Ramsden Primary School children are encouraged to be aspirational and to have a dream.  We believe that every child has the potential and the capabilities to be whoever and whatever they want to be.  Our philosophy is one of building positive relationships with children and families, with the very best teaching in order to work together to give each child the very best start in life; to be confident individuals and positive global citizens in the 21st Century.

 

Here at Ramsden we feel that children should experience as wide a curriculum as possible and enjoy the opportunities that sport, science, music, ecology and anything else that we can fit in brings.  After all, you can only make reasoned choices in life when you know all the options open to you.

 

Looking back to when I was at school I am reminded of how many jobs simply do not exist now and vice versa.  I wonder what my teacher’s reaction would have been if I said that I wanted to be an App designer.  In truth we do not know what life has in store for the children that have just entered our Foundation Unit.  The rate of technological change is quite astonishing for some of us.  Without doubt they will work in a world beyond our current recognition.  

 

I have to agree with Andreas Schleicher from the OECD:

         “Today, schooling needs to be much more about ways of thinking, involving creativity, critical thinking,

                                              problem-solving and decision making.”

 

I am also reminded of the Ramsden family motto which you can see below.  Whoever makes a success of their lives will have done one thing first; they will have had a try, even though they may have been nervous about doing so. This is the underpinning ethos of our school and the way children will be taught at Ramsden. Go on, have a go!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                   Fortune Favours the Brave

Chris Wilson

Headmaster

Ramsden School