My son has been learning the lyrics for his Year 6 choir piece this week and humming the tune around the house. It took me a few days to work out that we are to expect a performance of ‘True Colours’ by Cyndi Lauper. This pleased me greatly – not merely because it gave me the excuse to revisit that 80s classic, but because I had been working up a colour-themed blog in my head all week.
While the world watched for a wisp of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel, and VE Day celebrations left festoons of red, white and blue bunting around the UK, life at Brighton Girls burst into technicolour this week.
Over the last two days, we have marked the end of an era for our Year 11 and Year 13 students as they head into study leave and the start of public exam season. The atmosphere in school on Wednesday and Thursday was one of joyful celebration, unleashing a full kaleidoscope of colour. We had every shade of Sharpie pen available during the Year 11 shirt-signing jamboree on Wednesday; we had every hue of hoodie, and every flavour of ice cream after school. On Thursday, the Year 13s brought a new colourscape, with leavers’ t-shirts in pastel pink, bunches of flowers and brightly-wrapped packages. It’s fair to say that, over the last two days, we’ve seen every shade of emotion too, from wistful nostalgia to nervous anticipation. The rose-tinted spectacles have been working overtime, and so they should.
The carnival of colour started on Saturday as we took our place in the Children’s Parade – the event that kicks off the Brighton Festival. As sponsors, we flew the flags which bore this year’s parade theme: New Dawn. Primary schools across the city were asked to reflect on how we could change the world for the better, focusing on things we should “change, cherish, or chuck”. We went with a bee theme, paying homage to our Brighton Bees and Hive space, but mostly importantly reflecting something we must cherish. Without bees, the world would be devoid of colour. Our team looked fantastic in bright yellow t-shirts and flower-power face paint. As billed on the Festival website, it was “a parade of ideas for a better day” and it got the Festival off to a flying start.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Lucy Davies, Chief Executive of the Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, speak at a Chamber Breakfast. Lucy talked about positioning the Dome at the creative heart of the city, about the importance of it being outward looking, about it “diffusing” or “radiating” out – all things we, as a school, hold dear.
As our Year 11 and Year 13 leavers prepare to take their place in the world beyond Brighton Girls, we can attribute these same qualities to them: we can see them radiating out; confident, self assured individuals, and not afraid to let it show. In other words, fully aware of their true colours.
And their true colours (thank you, Cyndi, for tee-ing this up nicely)
are beautiful like a rainbow.
