Dear OFS Community,

Building on our 'fairness' theme I wanted to introduce 2 athletes to the school on Monday as both of them achieved 'greatness' but in very different ways and I wonder how my quotation from last week would stack up in their lives years later? As you can see from my slide below, both athletes did achieve incredible personal goals:

However, history is likely to define both of these men in very different ways. Lance Armstrong was stripped of all of his titles after he was caught taking performance enhancing drugs and whilst he claims that everyone was doing the same, he still chose to join and possibly lead something that was clearly wrong and he will have to live with the consequences of his choices.

Equally, Derek Redmond will look back on his achievements with questions and I have no doubt that he will wonder, if things were different, whether he could have stood on a podium with an Olympic Gold to his name.

If you are not familiar with this story, please do take a look at the clip below as I know that it has inspired millions of people and is listed in the Top 10 most uplifting Olympic stories of all time:

I'm sure that my small amendment to Jackson Brown's quotation rings true - However, I'm sure that Derek Redmond's father must be proud when he thinks of his son.

Well done to Sienna who decided to take on an 'impossible puzzle'...of 1000 pieces depicting minute and detailed Marvel characters. I love that Sienna has enjoyed helping mum with this in the past but has decided to stride out on her own...resilience building and testing patience are definite outcomes, well done Sienna!

I'm amazed how frustrating it can be to learn something new, especially those final steps! Three weeks ago I wouldn't have believed that I'd be pretty much juggling and I ought to feel pleased with my progress but I'm finding it even more difficult 3 weeks in...

As we continue to look at 'fairness' as a theme in assemblies, I hope that we all reflect on the 2 stories above. Life appears to reward winners and schools and parents can sometimes place too much of an emphasis on this - perhaps we all ought to place far more emphasis on 'how we play the game'? As I watch the news showing Mr Trump leaving by the backdoor, unable to greet Mr Biden, I hope that Orleyans aspire to people like Derek Redmond...have a lovely weekend!

Tim Calvey