Message from Tim Swain
QM 1974-81, Staff 1987-2017, MAT 2017-2019
Dear Old Marians and Friends
It seems faintly ridiculous that, in writing this piece, I should be contemplating retirement on the day that Joe Biden, aged 76, has announced his intention to run to be the 46th President of the United States. I stand in awe of his energy.
The Biden announcement serves to remind me of the immense privilege it has been to be the 36th Headmaster of our great school. The position has also made me, ex officio, a President too – of the Queen Mary’s Club. However alluring an address on Pennsylvania Avenue might be, I consider that I have had the better deal. Whoever prevails in the next presidential election will inherit a divided society; I have had the pleasure of working for and with a cohesive community and I am profoundly grateful.
Queen Mary’s Grammar School helped to outline my thinking as a pupil, opened up new and exciting horizons in France and at university, offered a series of irresistible challenges in my professional life: it is going to be hard to move on after 45 years of association with the Marian family. However, I am convinced that it is the right time and am confident that, in Richard Langton, the School has found a leader who will take it to new heights.
As a Founding Academy of The Mercian Trust, we have an opportunity to exercise an influence for good not only with our own pupils but across the whole Borough. The educational landscape is changing fast; if we embrace that change, Queen Mary’s can shape the future of education in Walsall. George and Nicholas Hawe brought new opportunities to Walsall pupils nearly half a millennium ago; we have the chance – through the Mercian, through the expansion of the school roll and campus, through the development of Farchynys – to ensure that a new generation can benefit from the same drive for excellence that still characterises our school.
The framework in which we operate may be different, but our core values remain the same. We remain academic in purpose, international in outlook and enterprising in spirit. Above all, I observe in the school’s new leaders, a strengthening of commitment to generosity: that’s what convinces me more than anything else that Queen Mary’s is not only in good health but also in good hands.
My years as Headmaster have taught me that Marshall and Martial had it right: the act of giving does indeed bring you great wealth. I may have, in some small ways, given to the school; but without question I leave it enriched by experience beyond what I could have asked or imagined, by memories that will feed the mind for years to come, and by the best of friendships – in short, life to the full.
Phil Bull welcomed me to Sutton Road’s version of Moss Close in 1974 and so,
perhaps, it will not surprise you that I resort to Latin and a single word to express decades of accumulated thanks. My wish for the School is simply this: Floreat!
