In part two of our UP CLOSE feature with Royal Hospital School headmaster Simon Lockyer, he tells of the relationship between the school and the wider community, and how six months apart worked for everyone.

Simon Lockyer summed up the RHS' relationship with the wider community when he said: "This is a village on the side of a village. We are part of Holbrook, but sit as a community within itself."

It would be easy to see the imposing RHS as an aloof entity, something for many to admire from afar but out of reach for the majority of people on the peninsula.

Obviously different if you are one of the 300 people employed by the school, making it one of the largest employer in Babergh, with most living within five miles of the site. Or one of the 712 pupils, that have come from 32 countries to board, along with the day boarders from the peninsula and other nearby towns and villages in Suffolk and Essex, not to mention those scholars from the inner city areas.

However, the headmaster insisted the school was genuinely open and welcoming. That is evidenced by the various clubs and groups from Holbrook that are able to use the facilities on the vast estate. Holbrook Hornets use the all-weather, floodlit pitches to train on a Thursday evening, handy as the Head's son plays for the club.

The swimming pool has youngsters from the wider community in for lessons, kayakers use the grounds as a base, the vast playing fields host annual school games, cross county events and triathlons for other organisations further afield.

Music lovers know they are in for a treat when they can get tickets for the many concerts put on at the school in happier, less Covid restrictive times and villagers are quick to snap up places for Notes and Nibble lunches, where for a fiver you get a fed while enjoying top notch performances and the chance for a chat.

There are also outreach programmes the older pupils tend to be involved in as they go out into the wider community.

And the very essence of the school's benevolent ideals remain threaded through its various activities as staff and pupils work very closely with the Suffolk Community Foundation and St Edmundsbury Diocese.

This has included pupils preparing Harvest Festival food parcels, which will then be going on to food banks. Even lesser known, is the sort of contribution local park run organiser Gary Edwards was able to secure when RHS sponsored First Aid kits for their Sunday morning outings at Alton Water.

"That is an example of our micro charitable work," said Simon. "Then here is the macro. The life-changing opportunities provided through education to children who otherwise would not be able to come here, and everything in between.

"Some of it is annually, some is weekly such as our young leaders working with Holbrook Primary and running sports clubs or musicians going to residential homes on peninsula.

"There is also our contribution to local economy through pupils and all its employees.

"RHS has been part and parcel of the local area for almost 100 years now. There remains a real ambition to work with the local schools and communities and the Suffolk Community Foundation is really good example of that."

Simon has been proactively meeting and greeting other head teachers, including Tom Maltby the recently appointed head at Holbrook Academy.

RHS has recently worked closely with Holbrook Academy in unsuccessfully obtaining a sizeable grant from the Department of Education to work in partnership for a design and technology course for disadvantaged children but plan to make another bid.

Overcoming and adapting in the best Royal Navy tradition proved vital when Covid-19 struck in earnest back in March and the school did something, it, like many other organisations had not before, and went into a virtual world.

It was not just the younger element of the staff that led this revolutionary change though, with Simon quick to praise an octogenarian at the school (who he politely decided not to name check), who played a huge part in bridging the gap between staff and pupils through technology, after some nimble cutting and slicing of budgets.

"That was an amazing reflection of a staff body able to adapt," said Simon.

"With a boarding school ethos we have very long days days. Pupils start at 8am and the relationships forged through the various activities are strong and I have to say the school body relationships were maintained.

"The pupils reacted extremely well. There is no doubt, and I can say this as parent too, over that six months they missed their peers, they missed the softer and wider aspects of the school. The social side, the sport, the drama the music the collaboration.

"The upside was when they came back you could tell they really valued the place. I have been really impressed over the past few weeks just how well everyone's responded. They have been amazing."

Moving forward remains a challenge which Simon is ready to meet head on, however, he does not have a crystal ball (unlike his PA who has one on her desk gifted by her boss).

Simon said: "I have been navigating a careful line between making sure the children have as close a normal experience as possible, while at the same time not putting the staff or the wider community at risk.

"That can sometimes be an hour by hour decision-making process as I don't want to be responsible for making a wrong decision.

"That would be the same for anybody in the same situation, whether it is Holbrook Academy, or any school in the country knows the sensitivities and challenges of dealing with a silent and difficult virus while maintaining a continuity of education and maintaining morale and that sense of community."

In the final part of this trilogy tomorrow, read what Simon feels about young people being blamed for the spread of the virus, and what he is still looking to achieve as RHS headmaster.

Read part one of our UP CLOSE trilogy with Simon Lockyer here...