Wyke is 21 this year. This used to be the coming of age year .. “when I were a lad”. The College has done more than come of age, though. It is more as if the butterfly Wyke has emerged from a 21 year cocoon stage. It’s been a slow, vulnerable and rather beautiful process. The wings are drying out now and the full colours are beginning to show.
In April – during the Easter holiday – we move into the Oak building and then the last of the empty shell of the old cocoon will blow away in the wind (well, alright, in front of bulldozers). Over the middle months of 2010, the ground between the new buildings will be landscaped to make new seating, eating and socialising outdoor space. There’s a pond and a stage area and many trees to be planted. There’s one tree in a special location too… but we’ll leave that until it is seen.
It all makes me more than happy to come to work. It is making lots of students want to come, too, and the rate of applications has gone through the roof – though fortunately a metaphorical one. This is good. It is what the College has been rebuilt for. We will be doing our best to make sure that the arrangements to support the education of all these young people are made. Even so, I thought I’d mention it in this, the first Principal’s blog so that anyone reading it who was thinking about applying some time later realises the danger of some time later being some time too late. (I don’t like having to talk to late applicants about the lack of places for them.)
I’ll round off this inaugural posting because I have to get other things done before the Christmas concert tonight in Hall Road Church. I know this is going to be great because we’ve already had three previews (prehearings?) in morning staff briefings. There are some seriously talented young musicians involved. I would like to finish, though, by congratulating Dani Brettell, recently selected for the national Colleges netball squad. This is high honour and selection out of a rich pool of talent. Well done Dani!
