It has been lovely welcoming everyone back into school this week and wonderful to say hello to some new members of our school community. The start of each term brings the excitement of what lies ahead and the reconnection with teachers and friends, the sharing of stories, experiences and adventures from the school holidays. At BPS we end each term by hoisting our pirate flag in a salute to the adventure that awaits, and whilst we all experienced many different activities, we took time to remind everyone that an adventure can take place anywhere, anytime with the humblest of settings. 

My inspiration for our start of term assembly was Max Woosey, “The Boy in the Tent”. Max is a 13 Yr old from Devon who has spent the last three years sleeping in a tent to raise money and awareness following the death of his neighbour and friend Rick Abbott. Rick received care from the nurses and staff at the North Devon Hospice and Max wanted to raise money to say thank you for the care they gave his friend. Before Rick died, he presented Max with his tent telling him to “go and have an adventure”. Max honoured his friend’s wishes and three years later this adventure has only just come to an end.

During this time Max has raised over £750,000, enough to provide care for 400 people at the hospice. More than this he has inspired millions of people to make a difference and do something to help others. He said, “I only set out to have an adventure and raise £100. It is crazy that it has got so much attention, but I hope it makes people see that children are capable of a lot more than people sometimes think”.

Max has been granted the British Empire Medal, among other accolades, and has been invited to attend the King’s Coronation. What an inspiring act and a great example that you never know where an adventure might take you!

We shared some wonderful stories from the holidays but reminded ourselves that we can have an adventure in a million different ways every single day. This could be by enjoying the outdoors, discovering somewhere or something new, adventure through creativity in lessons, and of course the endless possibilities for adventure through reading books, writing stories, drawing pictures and play.  

There is no limit to the adventure our minds and thoughts can take us on!