Head's Blog: Celebrations

At the start of my teaching career I was privileged to witness a "ballagás" ceremony in Trefort Agoston Gimnazium, Budapest. The name "ballagás" comes from an old Hungarian word meaning "to walk slowly" or "to stroll," reflecting the processional nature of the event. The graduating students dressed formally, in the school’s colours, and carried small bouquets of spring flowers as they walked through the school for the last time accompanied by rather mournful traditional Hungarian songs. 

Celebrating the achievements of young people and marking key achievements and milestones in their journey to adulthood is a universal tradition that unites cultures worldwide. For the Maasai tribe in Kenya this involves energetic jumping ceremonies for young men, while the Satere-Mawe people of the Amazon require their youth to wear gloves filled with bullet ants; a test of endurance which marks their transition into adulthood. 

If viewed through an alien’s lens our celebrations in Bath would be no less intriguing. Monday’s Prizegiving, Tuesday’s New Scholars’ Dinner, Wednesday’s Leavers’ Ball and today’s Sports Day all include hand-shaking, synchronised clapping, satin ceremonial gowns and, often, towering shoes that serve to mark these significant milestones in our girls’ lives. These customs, while seemingly conventional, hold deep significance. They serve as what sociologist Emile Durkheim defined as 'social facts,' externalising ways of acting, thinking, and feeling to bind the individual to the community, and underline its continuity and its values. 

This is a time of year to be savoured as we highlight achievements and celebrate all that makes our community strong; it is this mutual support and kindness that binds us together. Our Year 7’s mark their achievements alongside our Year 13’s who they take as role models and begin to hone aspirations with a shared language of success and progress. 

I only hope that these noble aims which also lie behind our celebration assembly next Friday are not totally undermined by our staff summer pantomime, In Search of Larry. I can only promise that it will never be repeated and that any donations students give will be put to very good use by our friends at the Crane Academy in Kenya.