1 September 2025
Good morning, everyone.
It’s really good to be here together again, and I hope you are all feeling refreshed after a wonderful summer. Many of you will be used to coming to Routh each Monday morning, while for others, this will be a new experience. Routh Assembly is named after a long-serving headmaster, Mr Robert G Routh, and it used to take place in Routh Hall, although the Senior School is now too large for us all to meet there. The purpose is simple: to share information, celebrate successes, consider ideas of interest, and importantly, to come together as a community.
Today, I want to take the opportunity to welcome everyone to a new school year at Bromsgrove. For some, this will be another year in the Senior School; for others, it will be their first. For some, it is the first day in a new school, and for some, the first day at school in the UK. Regardless, I hope everyone has a happy year ahead, making new friends, discovering new talents, and achieving far more than they might ever have imagined.
As I have said before, if we are not new to Bromsgrove, please go out of your way to support those who are. Whether in tutor groups, Houses, lessons, or activities, the newness of it all may make some feel nervous or unsure. Let’s make certain everyone feels comfortable and part of the ºÃÀ³ÎÛÊÓƵfamily as quickly as possible.
That goes for new teachers too. I am delighted to welcome:
In addition, there are some new roles for teachers who were here last term including
We hope they thoroughly enjoy their time and responsibilities at ºÃÀ³ÎÛÊÓƵand, of course, we will do our very best to help them settle in.
Sometimes, on occasions like this, I have often spoken about the importance of making the most of the limited time we have each year. We have a wealth of opportunities before us, and the challenge is to seize them—to try new things, to stretch ourselves, and to achieve as much as possible in the three terms that lie ahead. We have just 33 school weeks just less than 20 million seconds—before we reach 27th June 2026. By then, the year will be over, and we will never get that time back again.
So, I hope we will all take every opportunity, work hard, support one another, and make the most of every single second we have
However, today I’m not going to talk about those 20 million seconds. Instead, I want to focus on an area about which I know relatively little - robots. Over the summer, I came across several fascinating stories in the news:
And I must admit that I find this all both fascinating and a little bit unnerving. On the one hand, it seems, robots can be trained to be really useful, carrying out tasks that humans might not want to do themselves – such as luring dangerous snakes…but, might they become so useful that they become more useful than us?
And if all this with robots wasn’t enough, I then came across the story of Bob and Alice, two bots who, a couple of years ago, were set up to negotiate with each other. At first, they spoke to each other in English, but soon they began creating their own language which they found more efficient even though humans struggled to understand it. Bob and Alice’s task was to divide between them virtual objects (balls, books and hats). Each item carried a different value, and their goal was to get the best deal possible. This is an excerpt of what they said:
And just in case we didn’t follow that, what Bob and Alice were saying was:
Those of you who are interested in coding can read more about Bob and Alice and the experiment…and we have just heard a part of their interaction, sharing out balls and other things. To the uninformed observer, what they were saying made no sense but for Bob and Alice, it was a quick efficient exchange of information which was all they needed. They didn’t need anyone else to understand what they were saying so stopped using clear English; there was no emotion or politeness in their exchange – Bob and Alice didn’t need that – their goal was simply to perform their task as quickly and efficiently as possible.
And, for all that robots and bots can do well – including sharing information efficiently – they don’t, so far as I know, seek to build relationships. We, on the other hand, do. As members of a community, we choose our words carefully, we listen to others, and we seek to be understood but also to understand – because we want those around us to feel included and valued – just as we do ourselves.
Even though it might take a fraction of a second of our precious time, when we collect our main course at lunchtime, we thank the member of staff who serves us. We take the trouble to make a new classmate feel welcome, perhaps by suggesting they sit next to us. We smile at the person who passes us on the way to a lesson…you will be able to think of countless other examples including how you have treated others already this morning
In short, we do these things because humans are social beings: small gestures of kindness and inclusion build trust, connection, and a genuine sense of community – which is what we want. None of this would matter in the least to Bob and Alice, but for us, the way we communicate – through our words and through our actions – matters deeply.
So, as we begin our new year together – some of us for the very first time at Bromsgrove, let’s get things off to the best start possible - together. Let’s give some thought as to how we interact with everyone we come across, not just those who are part of our immediate circle, who are like us or with whom we need to work. It’s just as important to connect warmly and kindly with others, including those who are new, those who might be different and those who are not yet part of our friendship group. The purpose – well, that helps us make the School a happier place for everyone which we’ll understand…even if Bob and Alice wouldn’t.