Welcome Back Assembly

Welcome back to New School Year - Let’s look ahead with determination
“While the meek shepherd stops his simple song
To gaze a moment on the pleasing sight
O’erjoyed to see the flowers that truly bring
The welcome news of sweet returning spring”
Welcome, all of you, to the new school year! I hope everyone of you had a great holiday. It can be hard to start a new school year, can’t it? Especially when there’s a lot of bad news about at the moment. We’re just struggling out of the effects of the horrible Global Pandemic, there’s uncertainty in the economy, the world seems somehow restless. A lot of people can naturally feel worried and vulnerable. But my message to you this morning, as we warmly welcome you back, is do the best you can with what you have despite all the difficult circumstances. Decide to make a success of your school studies and of your own ambitions despite what seems to be going on around you. I’m confident that you will do well if you have the right attitude. Do you know why? Because the world has always been a challenging place. Always. When you study history you see that life is never easy. Difficult things are always going on and always will be.
The extract I read you at the beginning was from a poem by John Clare called “The Primrose” and this quote is from the end of the poem where a shepherd spots a primrose and sees it as a sign of the coming spring:
It won’t be that long before you will be considering exactly what you are going to do when you leave school. It may be a year, two years or even three. In an age of social media and an increasingly fast moving world some of you may be wondering about the relevance of these words written by a lonely farm labourer born way back in the Eighteenth Century. John Clare, who wandered the countryside, observing nature with wonder and awe. ‘How can flowers help me?’ you may well be thinking. But please give me your attention for a few minutes because I want to suggest that not only are the words of the poem relevant to you now but I also believe that they always will be relevant, right through your life.