As I write, Christmas is a little way off but importantly, we are remembering those servicemen and women who have fallen, past and present in order to keep us free and safe. This year we particularly paid tribute to those medical staff who perished during the pandemic, realising that these people were true modern soldiers in the war against our invisible invader.

It’s easy to let the gravity of what we are still going through get us down. The constant, ever-shifting disruption to the routine of our lives and the feeling of being literally locked down. Even the most upbeat of us can be forgiven for feeling blue on occasion these days.

In that, I am reminded of something else that’s blue in the wonderful image taken by Voyager 1 in 1990 some 3.7bn miles away, pictured here. Earth, as a pale blue dot, is seen as a tiny speck in the vastness of space. Carl Sagan, the late, great American astronomer famously commented that every aspect, both good and bad, of human existence can be found ‘there on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam'. 

With news that a vaccine is ever more likely, we have good reason to be optimistic for 2021. For now, let us keep striving, like Carl did, to keep things in perspective and remember to hold on especially tight to all that we love over the Festive Season.

Craig McCarthy
Headmaster