Life @ EA
Rector’s Blog
Thursday 27 February
The sun finally made it back to the Main Hall steps. Spring is here and summer is coming. It’s funny how the school year is so neatly portioned into segments that go beyond our term dates – for instance: prelim season is behind us, exam season is coming and conversations have already begun to turn to the subject of ‘holidays’ . As we stand on the steps in the morning, recently huddled against rain and wind, while the school pours into Main Hall for assembly, it is striking how much impact the sun making an appearance over the Henderson Row tenements can have on the mood in the school – the return of the sun at 8:45am marks the beginning of Spring and the end of winter….. or at least it would do if it ever stopped raining! Flying proudly this week on our flagpole as well has been the rainbow-coloured LGBT Pride flag, in honour of the assemblies that have been occurring this week. Central to these lessons is the idea that everyone should be treated equally, regardless of race, gender, origin, colour, ethnicity, religion and disability. It has been an uplifting week so far. At the same time, our staff are focussed in this half of term on Equality and Diversity training: as always, we strive to make this school a welcoming and safe environment for all.
While talking about a safe environment, coronavirus seems to be dominating the news again. Please do ensure that you are keeping up-to-date about this rapidly changing situation. With the recent news concerning northern Italy, this is a situation that is much closer to home now. The best place to look with regards to details about geographical areas is the PHE website, which is here: details are expected to change frequently. With regards to Italy the guidance has advice for the specific areas of concern: if recently returned from Northern Italy (defined by a line above, and not including Pisa, Florence and Rimini) or should you have family members who have recently returned from these areas, they should be self-isolating and not in school. Currently there is no risk for travellers to Italy who have been only in Pisa, Florence, Rimini or any further south.
Yet again this week, the weather has disrupted our sporting programme, and sadly our 1st XI Girls' Hockey team missed out in Glasgow in their semi-final of the Scottish Plate competition yesterday. Unfortunately the Sevens Series this weekend has already been impacted – please do continue to look on SOCS for updates on fixtures. Last night, and this morning in assembly, we had the Maclean brothers coming to speak to the school about their Atlantic row – it was a wonderful talk. Details on their accomplishments can be found here.
With best wishes
Barry Welsh
Rector
