14.02.2025 Prep Bulletin

Dear Parents & Carers,

During this final week of the first half of term, one might have thought that we would have cruised leisurely into the break but it would seem that the opposite has been the case.

With visitors from the Methodist Independent School Trust joining us at the start of the week, Governors joining us at the end of the week, Dr Hickey talking to Year 4 on the topic of volcanoes, football and netball matches taking place at home and throughout the Duchy, and Year 5 trekking across Bodmin Moor, there has certainly been enough to keep us on our toes.

Thursday and Friday also saw us welcoming Will Silk who will step into the role of Assistant Head Pastoral when Maggie Issaka retires at the end of term.

Looking back over the past 10 days, with tiredness undoubtedly playing a part and our fuses being a little shorter than the norm, there is no doubt that we have witnessed more than the occasional sharp comment amongst the children. Please be reassured that this is not an epidemic but, given the unusually high standards that the children set for themselves, we have fallen a little below the mark. As such, our theme for the week has been ‘the power of words’ and it offered the opportunity to return to one of my favourite stories, courtesy of Socrates (the ancient Greek philosopher rather than the Brazilian footballer and player of the tournament at the 1982 World Cup):

One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance, who ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?”
“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me, I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Test of Three.”
“Test of Three?” The man said
“That’s correct,” Socrates continued the test of three. “Before you talk to me about my student let’s take a moment to test what you’re going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“No,” the man replied, “actually I just heard about it.”
“All right,” said Socrates. “So, you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second test. This is the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?”
“No, on the contrary.” said the acquaintance.
“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him even though you’re not certain it’s true?”
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued, “You may still pass though because there is a third test – the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”
“No, not really” the man responded.
“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?”
The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more.

Rob Morse

Head of Prep