Dear Parents,
It is wonderful having you and you children back at school. Although you won’t know this, your children and you make all the difference for those of us who work here: the school feels very empty when you are all on holiday!
What I particularly like about this time of year is that with staggered entry, expectations meetings, second hand uniform sales and general ironing out of minor problems, you are in and out all day! As many of you are at work, we also get to see a lot of grandparents, who are a demographic particularly close to my heart. And of course, there are the “cuidadoras”, stalwarts of our family logistics.
In addition to welcoming you all back and expressing the hope that I will bump into as many of you as possible, I am also writing to remind you that the use of smart phones at Runnymede is banned. They cannot be visible; think of them as a packet of cigarettes: we would no more want to see people smoking on campus than using mobile phones.
Throughout the summer I have seen hundreds of children doom scrolling, often with their parents sitting next to them and it breaks my heart: they are sustaining irreversible damage.
Therefore I would be most grateful if you would refrain from using your phones at school and asking those responsible for collecting and delivering your children to do the same. I will be very grateful and your children will be safer.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Frank PowellHeadmaster
