I can't remember where I got it from, but I have a note in one of my 'blue sky' files that recommends delivering the same assemblies to all the different age groups in the school. I think it may have come from a primary school head who was making the point that a younger audience is perfectly capable of benefiting from ideas that might initially have been designed for older children. I didn't really do much by way of response for a long time, but over time I came to appreciate the wisdom in this advice.
At Radnor, every other week we have an assembly for Year 10, Year 11, Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth on Monday, one for Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 on Wednesday and one for Year 5 and Year 6 on Friday. I have already got into the habit of using the same ideas each time, not just because it is easier for me but also because I believe it is a positive way to bind the school community together.
This week I shared three of my favourite poems with the children. The first is from my younger years when the books of A.A. Milne were the mainstay of my reading programme. 'When We Were Very Young' and 'Now We Are Six' each contain a timeless collection of poems, many of which have become an integral part of many people's childhood. 'The King's Breakfast' has always made me smile, with the frustrations of the monarch, and his simple wish for someone just to do as he asks without making everything overcomplicated, proving to be a situation I have been able to relate to all through my adult life, not least when I'm at work!
'The Mower' by Philip Larkin was sent to me by a colleague after the death of a friend of mine a few years ago. I have treasured it ever since, particularly its exhortation to be kind to one another while there is still time to do so. Analysts of Larkin rate it as one of the last great poems he wrote, a view with which I would not disagree.
Finally, I read the children 'If' by Rudyard Kipling, voted not long ago as the nation's favourite poem. Although it could be argued that it is beginning to look a bit dated now, it seems hard to disagree with the ideas expressed by Kipling about the need to deal with the ups and downs of life as stoically as possible. 'If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same' are the words above the players' entrance at the All-England Tennis Club in Wimbledon. Much more poignantly, given the last line, Kipling's only son John never had the chance to be a man because he was killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915, just six weeks after his eighteenth birthday.
Although there was clearly a lot to think about, the message was very much intended to be positive and upbeat, with the overall conclusion that the pen remains far mightier than the sword, the power of words is undiminished and poetry is an ideal medium to lift our spirits, inspire us and motivate us for the challenges ahead.