Michael Hall Parent Portal

Friday Flyer - 22nd May 2026

Dear Michael Hall Community,

I hope that everyone is well-prepared for the sunny heatwave that is about to pass across the UK over the Bank Holiday and half term. I appreciate that not everyone uses sun cream, but for a Scotsman it will be factor 50 and shade as much as possible!

Before attempting to write (my choice of words will be clearer after this paragraph), I would like to highlight a few things that have been developing over the past half term:

· Our Old Scholars network is growing with the excellent work of Lorraine Jones heading up the drive to keep our community connected. The school journey may be over, but Michael Hall is for life!

· Ami Nielsen has been fostering a sense of connection with parents as we look to launch another group within the community – Parents of Old Scholars. If you are a parent of an Old Scholar, never feel your connection is severed.

· International pupils – we have our first admission taking place for the new academic year! Thank you to Chloe Lewin for working with me to bring this aspect of school life back to Michael Hall.

· The class 9s have relaunched the Work Projects under Alex Gearing. The pupils were nothing short of fantastic over the 2-week period. Do come and see the canteen, the recycling area, the garden approach and the updated outdoor classroom. Many staff supported Alex, not least of all the site team who supervised, supported and worked to teach our pupils some DIY/Joinery/landscaping/Woodwork skills. This does not happen in other schools and it was great to see.

This week has been an odd one. It has a feeling of things unfinished: sentences cut short, thoughts incomplete, meetings needing another round, and plans not realised. None of this has been intentional, and much of it has no one to blame (although I never feel completely absolved of this given my role). I have been around long enough (reached 50 in September – said holding metaphorical bat in the air to acknowledge the half century!) to have encountered this scenario before. I know it well enough. It annoys me. But I know it will pass.

Even as I type I can feel a block where my thoughts usually have a focus and I have the clarity to communicate what is in my mind to the page. I see this a lot as I see pupils, visit classes and observe behaviours; children and staff unknotting the blocks – sometimes assisted, sometimes alone.

There is a beauty and inner strength we develop as we recognise we are in some way blocked, reflect on that which is causing the block and then take steps to unblock it. Perhaps my current blockage has not only coincided with the last week of warmth and sunshine mixed with cold and wet. Perhaps it has arrived to make me look around with a little more focus on what is happening in front of me.

Through our curriculum at Michael Hall, I have seen a tense or pouty pupil enter a handwork lesson, only to come out 45 minutes later with a smile and skip. It is not only the crafting hands which are working in the lesson, the mind is active and the deeper senses of the child are processing the events to reach a new understanding. A new balance. A new outlook. It is an inbuilt aspect of our curriculum that protects this time and space to allow for this inner development to take place. It is an acknowledgement of a child needing this time, space and action to fully bring out the complete ‘them’ over time.

Rather than forcing my own reflective words on to the page, I will offer gratitude for what I have seen. Gratitude for our teachers and colleagues who nurture with creative, personalised and deep care. Gratitude to our pupils who show me how naturally creativity and goodness lives in them as they go through childhood. Gratitude to our parents and families who support and value the education and experiences that we provide at Michael Hall Waldorf School.

Have a lovely and toasty half term break!

Warm wishes,

Stuart

Stuart McWilliams
Principal