OMS Latest:

BOSS MEYER

Many of us thought that Boss’s ashes were sprinkled on his beloved cricket square at Millfield. In fact, only about half of them were used, the rest being interred in Wells. When Mrs Meyer died her ashes were also interred in Wells. Recently, Boss’s grand-daughter, Suzanne Meecham, has had both sets of ashes reburied in Kingweston Churchyard.

The School has agreed that the Kingweston Ground Staff will make sure that the grave is kept tidy and the Old Millfieldian Society has taken out a contract with a local flower shop to ensure that there are always fresh flowers on the grave.

Robert Clark
OMS Board Member and Governor

‘Discovering Millfield’ and a Strategic Plan for the School

Craig Considine, Headmaster
 

When Jack ‘Boss’ Meyer established Millfield in 1935, he did so with a particular vision – that of providing personalised learning, by encouraging pupils to discover and nurture their talents. Whether these talents were sporting, academic, artistic or musical in essence, Boss believed that when a pupil took pleasure in a particular activity and strove to improve in that field, he or she was likely to meet with success. This in turn would impact upon other areas of that pupil’s education; success in one sphere would lead to progress in all.

This vision laid the foundations for Millfield as it is today and to enable this process of self-realisation, the School offers an unparalleled range of opportunities inside and outside the classroom, coupled with outstanding facilities.

With my arrival as Headmaster in 2008 came the need to re-examine Millfield and to consider afresh its vision, aims and objectives, scrutinizing its past and present in order to plan for the future. At the start of 2009 a strategic process entitled ‘Discovering Millfield’ was initiated. As the name suggests, the purpose of this process was to ascertain what Millfield is and what it stands for.

Involving consultation and open dialogue about the School, ‘Discovering Millfield’ engaged current parents, pupils, all members of staff and the Board of Governors in conversation about the next phase of development. Current parents, pupils and staff were asked to complete a survey proffering their thoughts on Millfield.

Following this, on 12th March 2009, Mr Nicholas Sampson (Master of Marlborough College and former colleague of mine at Geelong Grammar School, Australia) gave the first of a series of keynote addresses on ‘Discovering Millfield’. He spoke of Millfield’s strengths (namely its willingness to be different) and provided an overview of 21st century independent education. From this starting point, five key strands were then developed for subsequent discussion:

• Bright, Enquiring and Independent Minds
• Wellbeing
• Campus Life
• Co-curriculum
• Our Place in the World

Working parties consisting of a group of volunteers led by a member of teaching staff and with the assistance of a senior management team member were formed for each strand. The Old Millfieldian Society was involved with ‘Our Place in the World’. These groups explored in detail their assigned area with the aims of promoting a wider dialogue amongst colleagues and to formulate recommendations in preparation for the strategic plan itself. External speakers, amongst which were some OMs, were invited in for each group to continue on from the initial address by Mr Sampson.

The results of this process have been used to draw up a Strategic Plan for Millfield’s future, which will be considered by the Board of Governors at their next meeting in November. We look forward to publishing this in due course, and are very excited to be embarking on this next stage of Millfield’s development as we draw near to the 75th Anniversary of the school’s founding.