Trinity School - James Atkinson - Talking Head
Bringing Education to Life
I’m Mr James Atkinson and I’m in charge of the senior boys boarding house. They are aged between 16 and 19 and there are 39 of them. Yeah, there are still rules and regulations like there are in any household so it’s like being a dad to a huge… well 39 teenage boys. I’m not watching them all the time but I think the boys know where the lines are and they are respectful of that and we have very few issues as you might expect with teenage boys. The worst ones are people not being able to get up in the morning but we have procedures to catch those (laughs). So, yes it can be difficult, can be quite hard work at times, but on the whole I think the general respect for each other that exists in the boarding house makes it as pleasant as it could possibly be. I think we have great fun, we’ve had some great trips which I’ve organised. We’ve had paintballing, go-karting and they’ve absolutely love it. We’ve had boys and girls going, we’ve had all the different nationalities in the house going. So, we have various different nationalities and they all mix in well. They go on these trips and that’s when you realise they are mixing well. They have fun around the house as well. They visit each other and their friends in their rooms and they are respectful. It is slightly different from a family as when you go home you live with your brothers and sisters whereas in school you are living with everyone in your year more or less because there are an awful lot of senior boy boarders. So, I think they enjoy themselves. Sometimes they enjoy themselves a tad too much and they know when they’ve enjoyed themselves a tad too much because I’ll let them know and they know that their future enjoyment may depend on whether they get it right in the future. I think they enjoy themselves and I think they know how far to go and they know when to knuckle down and to do the serious bits as well. I’ve had some amazing support from parents particularly when I meet them when they come in to pick the boys up at the end of term or at half term and they make it clear that I’ve got their full backing to do what I feel is necessary to make sure their sons are doing what they should be and to uphold their family beliefs.
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