DevOff on tour

Just back from a busy couple of days in London. On Thursday, with Simon Jones, to a brief committee meeting of the London/SE OMA, moving along plans for the April 21 London Dinner. Immediately followed by an open pub evening in the Crown and Anchor, Neal Street, Covent Garden, where there was a good turn-out, including a number of Simon's 88-95 contemporaries and current London undergrads drafted in by committee member David Leeming. Not a boozy evening, but great to catch up with what people are doing now. Little doubt that if these guys (eg Messrs Hough, Petecki, Stephens, Ross and Poyser) aren't running the world yet, they soon will be.














The rest of the trip for me involved forward planning for the drama festival we are holding in the autumn to celebrate the opening of our new drama centre. We are expecting to have a topping-off ceremony at school in a couple of weeks' time, when the building will be weather-tight following the installation of the enormous flytower above the theatre stage. Then the serious electrical work starts and we expect a hand-over in the summer.

I met Robert Powell, who is kindly going to fit a one-man show for us into his hectic filming schedule. Then over Waterloo Bridge, on a beautifully crisp, clear evening, to the National Theatre to see our Drama Centre Campaign Chairman, the newly knighted Sir Nicholas Hytner.
At the end of a long day's rehearsal (London Assurance - opening soon - very funny - strongly recommended) Nick found the energy to think through with me how we can bring in the last chunk of funding for the project and deliver an opening festival to please all our stakeholders. So we are looking at student productions, including a musical, a masterclass which he will lead, and performances on behalf of some of our partner charities in Greater Manchester. We also hope to attract a small touring company to what is going to be a cracking venue for drama.

A great couple of days, spoiled only by a Friday night Euston concourse heaving with humanity as tannoy announcements apologised for technical problems delaying and cancelling services north. Late to bed.

Entrance Examination

How many of us remember the Entrance Exam? Looking, then walking, down a seemingly never-ending drive towards buildings which would swallow up the junior school which we attended. Not knowing which of the people looking after us were prefects and which were staff. Above all, not knowing the answers to so many questions in the papers. In my case, not having been taught decimals at junior school in Rochdale, and so finding many of the questions in the Arithmetic paper more than a bit puzzling.

Well, today is Entrance Exam day 2010, so we have been doing the tests which will decide the intake of September 2010, and the A level and IB results of 2017. We no longer have Part 1 and Part 2 days (written as Part I and Part II until, a few years ago, a parent told us it was cruel to advertise an 11-part exam). Now all the candidates come for written papers on one day and on another day for a general assessment based on putting them in groups in front of experienced teachers and seeing how well they do with newly taught material. This is our best endeavour to make our judgements on the basis of potential as well as acquired knowledge.

I've been marking a few papers this morning, and am impressed by the quality of the answers I've seen. A good sign for the future.

It's good to know that the Bursary Fund will support between 30 and 40 means-tested bursaries in the new entry. We may have even more deserving cases than that, and it will be very sad not to be able to help everyone who deserves it. This is why continuing the fundraising for bursaries is so important.

Stepping down

Well, the snow and ice are in retreat as temperatures rise. For the last 2 weeks we've enjoyed the novelty of the snow, with days off and beautiful views, but most people have had enough now. It's funny to think that today we are quite pleased that it's a grey, rainy, Manchester day and that the forecast offers more of the same for the weekend.

I have mixed feelings about the fact that this week I've been writing a job description for my successor. The High Master and Governors have agreed that I may take phased retirement, beginning with a reduction to a 25% contract from September this year. By the summer I will have notched up 40 years at MGS, boy and man, and it seems a good time to be winding down somewhat. My successor will have plenty of challenges to confront, not least leading the planning for the school's 500th birthday in 2015.

So 'my' job will be advertised soon, and I hope that my successor will have as much enjoyment in the post as I have had. We have only had a Development Office and Director of Development in the present form since 2003, but because I was doing similar work from 1997 when we started the Foundation Bursary Appeal, it's now difficult to remember how different things once were.

We now have The MGS Trust managing a capital fund (currently valued at £16m+) to support 240+ means-tested bursaries in perpetuity, and we are building a new Drama Centre with £1.75m of donations. The fantastic support that we have received from so many Old Boys and friends of MGS makes my job, surely, the best in the school. I used to think the same thing when I was Head of Lower School in the 1980s, so I've been doubly lucky.

2010 starts with snow and ice

We ended last year by distributing over 4,000 copies of the annual school magazine, Ulula (the owl) - about 1500 by hand to current members of the school community and over 2,500 by post to subscribing members of The Old Mancunians Association.

So the new year has started with responses to articles in the magazine, many readers expressing amazement that MGS is still able to offer a fantastic range of extra-curricular activities and adventure trips in spite of the influence of health and safety, child protection and risk assessment measures.

Simon Jones has been incredibly busy co-ordinating travel arrangements (his old job before becoming Assistant Development Director) but is now busy rounding up a new generation of Old Mancs to join the London & South East group at their next pub evening in Covent Garden on January 28.

Jane Graham is making good progress with arrangements for our next annual Reunion and Dinner to be held at school on 8 May - this one is for old boys who started at MGS pre-1951.

Julie Wright is working hard on the next edition of our termly newsletter TOM (The Old Mancunian) which will be posted to all old boys for whom we have a postal address by the end of the month.

But most significantly, the last week has been one of snow and ice in Manchester, with the school having to close on Tuesday and Wednesday because of conditions on site and because the bus companies could not provide services. Some staff and pupils are still struggling with journeys in and out, but we are now back to normal more or less (though we can't use the sports fields yet)
and the exam season is on us with A level modular exams taking place in the Mem Hall.

Building work on the new Drama Centre is proceeding and we are about to plan a topping-out ceremony for roughly a fortnight from now - presumably to take place at the high point of the new build on top of the fly-tower.