LOOKING AHEAD

It is an enormous privilege for me to be asked to write an article for the July edition of the Old St. Beghian Bulletin. As the next Headmaster of St Bees School, I am very much looking forward to taking up my new post this September and to continue engaging with all of those involved with this magnificent, historic school.

I already have a very tangible sense of the hugely important role that the Old (and not so old) St. Beghians play in the life of the school community. It says so much about the school that people want to keep in touch and help in so many diverse ways. I can assure you that I am very keen to continue to foster close links with the Society and look forward to meeting you at various events over the course of the coming years. It goes without saying that you are all most welcome to visit the school at any time.

I am currently the Deputy Headmaster at the King’s School in Tynemouth and prior to this was Director of Music, Senior Housemaster and acting Deputy Headmaster at Scarborough College. As a Mancunian, I am looking forward to returning to the north-west, although most people I have spoken to seem to regard Manchester as being in the South! The step up from Deputy Headmaster to Headmaster is a large one, and yet from the moment I saw the advert in the newspaper there was something about St Bees that drew me to it. As my last two posts have been at coastal schools you will have gathered that I have a strong love of the sea. In my spare time I volunteer as a lifeboat man on the RNLI Tynemouth lifeboat and look forward in hope to transferring stations to St Bees.

There is no doubt that as the country enters a second recession, many would see these as very challenging times to become a Headmaster of an Independent school. I have to say that whilst I do agree that there are challenges ahead, there are also many opportunities. There is so much about St Bees that we should be very proud of and we need to work together to spread the word about what an excellent centre of education the school is. We must ensure that we continue our exceptional tradition of fine academic standards combined with superb pastoral care. To me the secret for success in these areas is to focus on each individual pupil and to help nurture their particular skills and talents. I would welcome the involvement of any St Beghians in supporting our pupils through links with their areas of interest, be that in business or leisure.

In these very competitive times, the school needs to develop a reputation for being outstanding in a few key disciplines. I am hugely grateful to members of the Old St Beghian Golf Society for their support and help in the development of the school’s golf facilities and I am looking forward to working with you to promote a national reputation as a centre of excellence for this growing sport. St Bees School is truly fortunate to be surrounded by so many outstanding areas of natural beauty and I want to enable our pupils to make the most of them. To this end, I am looking to build on our excellent outdoor education programme and also to focus on providing further leadership opportunities to our pupils that will enable them to be fully prepared for life beyond St Bees. Finally, as a musician, I am naturally eager to build on the already excellent reputation we have for the performing arts both locally and nationally and I am hugely excited with the prospect of developing this particular area of work. If there are any members of the St. Beghian Society who have interests and expertise in any of these key areas and would like to work with me to develop these areas of excellence I would be very interested to hear from you.

I do hope that I will have the chance to meet many of you over the next few months, either at a St Beghian Society event or at School House, where a warm welcome will always await you if you are visiting St. Bees. Thank you again to all of you for the wonderful work you do in promoting and supporting our school.

Best wishes,
James Davies.