Letter from the Vicar (July 2010/August 2010)
Dear friends,
One of the days I hated most when I was at school was the day I received and had to take home my end of year report. My mother in particular was very keen it should be good and I was very frightened in case there were some bad things in it.
These days, however, I am just as sympathetic towards the teachers who have to produce these things. I know that some of them have to write hundreds of reports in a very short space of time. Trying to think of something original to say must be really hard, especially when you have to write about students who may not have done very well. But, of course, I also recognise that for many school students it is still a very worrying time. How have I done this year? Have I improved on last year? What will my parents say when they read it?
Of course, these feelings are nothing new. For several hundred years children have dreaded the annual summary of their work, effort and behaviour. Here are some real reports written about famous people:
‘Certainly on the road to failure … hopeless … rather a clown in class … wasting other pupils’ time.’ (These words were written about one of the most successful musicians of all time, the Beatle, John Lennon.)
‘Is a constant trouble to everybody and is always in some scrape or other. He cannot be trusted to behave himself anywhere. He has no ambition …’ (This was in a school report on a certain Winston Churchill, voted greatest Briton of all time.)
‘I have never met a boy who so persistently writes the exact opposite of what he means. He seems incapable of organising his thoughts on paper!” (So wrote a teacher about Roald Dahl, surely one of the most popular children’s author ever.)
These comments are all pretty harsh, and we will never know if they were really deserved. We do know, however, that in later life these three men all achieved great things. Perhaps this means that there is hope for students who receive even the most awful school report! I know that for myself the only way I was able to improve my reports was through hard work and perseverance. But Christians believe that the ability to persevere can be strengthened by the power of God at work within us. We are disciples of a master who persisted in his mission even though it led him to his death. Despite opposition and setbacks Jesus never wavered. As a result he achieved his objectives. He believed that the strength to persevere was given him by his Father God. That can also be true for us. Whatever challenges life places in our way God will be with us, helping us to cope and enabling us to achieve our full potential.
(This is a revised version of an assembly address given at All Saints’ School)
Richard Franklin
July 2010
