Head Master Keynote, Speech and Prize Giving 2023

Children, parents, families, friends, distinguished guests and governors, I am delighted to welcome you all to Hallfield School’s Speech and Prize Giving Day, 2023.

Last year was the very first whole school ‘in person’ Speech Day here in the University of Birmingham’s Great Hall, and it went down so well, we’re back for another! And it’s good to see so many of you are too.

Firstly, I must say a HUGE thank you to the children for their wonderful singing this morning and to the staff orchestra and their conductor, Mrs Edgar. Well done! You may have noticed a certain theme going on with the choice of songs!

Last year we had Canadian Astronaut, Dr Robert Thirsk, as our guest speaker. He was literally out of this world! So how do we top that? Well simply by putting our feet firmly down on terra firma, and those feet couldn’t belong to a more inspirational and accomplished dancer than Ms Amy Dowden, who is our special guest for this Speech Day, star from Strictly Come Dancing. Welcome Amy, it’s wonderful to have you here. But more from Amy later.

Happiness. “Children are happy and active in their learning”. That’s no opinion or line written by me; that’s a line taken directly from our recent nursery ISI report.

The personal development of children, the behaviour and attitudes of children…is Outstanding.

I think we can all agree that we’ve achieved that outcome by working together and striving each and every day to give our children the best possible start in life.

The school itself is INSPIRING.

We turn 150 in 2029 – no more comments on ‘have I been here since the beginning’ please! – and to commemorate that we are launching Project 150 in September.

To add to our fantastic new ICT facilities and podcasting studio, this Autumn we will commence the building of two new classrooms to open in April 2024, complete with a common room and breakout spaces.

Further on from that, we plan to build a new sports centre to open in 2026/27 and then convert our existing sports hall to a new theatre, all completed before our 150th birthday.

We aim to develop our facilities to be a fitting venue for the inspirational drama and sport that Hallfield nurtures. Inspiration forms part of our DNA at Hallfield.

We have very strong academic results and the numbers don’t lie: upwards of 50% of pupils are offered one or more scholarships in academia, music, sport, art and drama and a staggering 92% of pupils who sat the LA Grammar Schools examinations were offered places. Our guest speakers always reiterate the importance of ‘soft skills’ and yes this is something we nurture and promote extremely successfully, but we are also a school grounded in impressive academics and these young people will flourish here and beyond.

And the good news is: our learners are emboldened, enthused and energised by this. They are intelligent, switched on, focused but they are also resilient, great in a team, physically and mentally prepared for the modern world.

Great dancers are not great just because of their technique, they are great because of their passion, epitomised by our young people right here at Hallfield.

But what does the future hold for us all? There has been a lot of talk in recent months about artificial intelligence or AI, drones are more and more prevalent and programmes such as ChatGPT are being introduced to write things for us. And here’s me stuck with a Nokia 3310 and Sony Walkman!

Yes children, you will learn all about what a cassette tape is in your history lessons!

So what skills do our children need to make them ready for a world advancing far quicker than ever before? Well I say we need to prove ourselves as a human race. Prove how special we are. We are here to constantly and consistently surprise and change the way we live. So YES! we have all the technology we could possibly need, but why walk, when you can dance.

Showcase your brilliance.

Showcase your uniqueness.

Showcase who. You. Are.

Regardless of any computer, the latest iPhone or even the greatest bit technology advancing and shaping the world today, I am confident that our current students and our leavers today will go on to AMAZE and make THEIR mark on our society.

I want to end by thanking all the staff and students here at Hallfield. You’ve been my dance partners and I’ve needed you hopefully as much as you have needed me.

I also want to thank the parents present today for their unwavering support for the school over the past academic year.

And finally, and especially, to our leavers: Year 6 and Year 8.

I have so many fond memories of you all and I wish you all the continued success and hope you achieve the very best in life. Do it BIG, do it RIGHT and do it in STYLE. Look back on your days at Hallfield with fondness and appreciation.

I wanted to end by repeating the message I told everyone last year: …We, as people, are lifelong learners. At our school curious young minds discover this on a daily basis. No matter what we do or achieve here, make sure you always go on to be even more inquisitive, more honest, humbler and never change who you are. Don’t just dance, move the world.

Be HAPPY, INSPIRING AND BE PURPOSEFUL!

Keith B Morrow Head Master
June 2023