Page 10 - Demo

FROM CHAPLAIN%u2019S PEN REVEREND CANON NEALE TROONGirls, Girls, Girls - a Top of the Pops hit for the band, %u2018Sailor%u2019 in 1976, which was the year I first travelled to the UK. Those sorts of pop tunes when first heard in a very different location to your own home, seem to stick, don%u2019t they? I can still hum the tune even if I can%u2019t actually still sing the lyrics, which is fair enough after nearly 50 years!Fast forward to January 2000, and it was girls, girls, girls again but in a physical and not lyrical shape. It should have felt different after my first two years in the School of just teaching boys. However, apart from uniform differences, the playful voices of the girls were similar to the boys, and the energy levels just as spectacular.In the initial stages, there were still quite a number of %u201cBoy Only%u201d classes, so in many ways, one could feel you were still in the single-sex model that had existed over time. Gradually, the numbers began to naturally balance and our teams and Chapel Choirs demonstrated a co-educational flavour in every aspect.Teaching, in the Christian Education context, did change after the arrival of the girls at Southwell. There had been a real inclination on my part to include plenty of %u201cblokey%u201d Bible stories for the boys, rich in battles and with generally high levels of destruction and mayhem being especially popular! It wasn%u2019t that girls couldn%u2019t cope with the content, but I began to realise that female spirituality is a different matter. Somehow, it was seen more in a quiet acceptance on the part of the girls that contrasted with the boys%u2019 desire to question and seek understanding around every little detail. Therefore, this provided a very interesting mix and a good deal of fun along the way as well. In the end, I found it was %u201cbusiness as usual%u201d because kids are kids irrespective of gender, and their insights into matters of life and faith also taught me (and continues to do so on a daily basis) to expect the unexpected from them. Therein lies the joy of bringing the Gospel to students, whom I pray will each new day seek to understand and participate in the joys of God%u2019s Kingdom.Peace be with YouChaplain