This weekend is Prize Day! 

It is a day full of celebration and recognition of the huge amount of work that students have done over the last year, key stages or even their entire school-career.

It is - for many of our oldest students - the end of an ‘era’ at Rossall School. And it is, invariably, a time for the odd tear between the cheers and hugs and celebrations.

This Thursday marks the eightieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, which occurred on 8th May, 1945. The war in the Pacific was to rage on for another three months and was only brought to a conclusion with the dropping of atomic weapons on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  The Second World War resulted in a devastating loss of human life. Estimates vary, but it is thought that up to sixty million people were killed. Many of those who lost their lives were civilians and they fell victim to aerial bombardment, famine, imprisonment, disease and many other depredations associated with the pursuit of total war. Anti-Semitism led to the genocide of over six million Jews and many other minorities were also persecuted during this period. Over five million German soldiers died during the Second World War and the bombing of cities such as Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. When the guns fell silent, it was estimated that there were seven million more women than men in Germany. Such was the cost of the war. 

“The new Pope has a degree in mathematics. 

He doesn’t understand sin. 

He understands cos.”

I can only apologise for the joke - blame it on social media - but I could not help but giggle when I read it while trying to find some more sensible information about the newly appointed Pope Leo XIV.

The start of May is a difficult time for Rossallians. Not only do many of their international friends enjoy a day off school back home on 1st May (and it was a glorious day to be honest), but they also ‘miss out’ on the Monday Bank Holiday and get to attend school instead, while many of their neighbours (and their parents?) have a day off. 

Parents often love to tell anecdotes about their children, and when you are the child in question that can often be embarrassing and occasionally enlightening. Apparently, my most used phrase as a toddler was “I will do it by myself”. Now, read into that what you will but I am afraid that I know that this phrase rings true for me as an adult as much as it did when I was a child. I hate to feel incapable, I can be terrible at asking for help and I can be quite obstinate about receiving and responding to advice. I have a sense that I should authentically own the decisions that I make and that I must be capable enough to look after myself in all situations. 

After graduating from Rossall last year I decided to take a gap year and spent 10 weeks volunteering with children in Arusha, Tanzania. I am beyond grateful for every moment of this adventure, since it allowed me to learn so much about the lives and the culture of the people there. It was truly the most eye opening and at the same time most challenging experience of my life. 

80 million!

That is the number of Easter eggs sold every single year in the UK. 

80 million Easter eggs, which translates to almost 29,000,000kg of chocolate. 

That is a lot of chocolate.