As we await the return of our Year 8s from their leavers’ trip, I reflect on this period as a threshold between endings and beginnings. It brings to mind Robert Frost’s iconic poem, The Road Not Taken. In it, the subject of the poem stands “in a yellow wood,” faced with a fork in the path. I find myself thinking about this poem every year, especially at a time of transition for all pupils, for two key reasons.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Firstly, it paints a realistic picture of journeying on. The decision of which way to go becomes a metaphor not just for one choice, but for the whole journey of growing up — the bittersweet truth that we cannot walk every path, and that in choosing one, we inevitably leave another behind. Whether they’re stepping up to a new year group, moving schools, or preparing for the leap to senior school, Packwoodians are each standing at their own metaphorical fork in the road. These transitions are not just administrative moments on a calendar — they are formative moments in this great journey of growing up. These transitions require our children to be brave, to trust their footing, and to begin again.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
Secondly, it reminds us that, whatever road a pupil has taken, they all reach the end point together. Some will have taken the ‘A road’, a more straightforward route; others will have diverged, stalled, perhaps navigated some ‘B roads’, farm tracks perhaps. Whatever the route, the destination remains the same, and in the context of that wonderful visualisation that children represent popcorn – all popping at different times, it is only natural that young people will have had their fair share of diversions as they navigate their pathway.
Even those staying put feel the tug of change as a new cohort arrives, new initiatives begin, or personal and professional roles subtly shift. Schools are living things, after all — always evolving.
Finally, a delve into a more subtle meaning of the poem for Packwood.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
For me these lines celebrate individuality — the bold choice, the unbeaten path and the courage it takes to move forward into the unknown. I spoke to the children in Assembly on Monday about having a quiet inner voice, and I think this poem speaks to this: the quiet strength of saying yes to growth, even when it’s uncertain.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Our pupil-focused missions at Packwood fall under the umbrella of Soaring Performing, Character and Adventure. Nowhere are these more evident than in these threshold moments. Character in how we step forward. Adventure in embracing the unknown. High performance not just in grades or outcomes, but in displaying the Packwood Way: tenacity, respect and humility.
The fork in the road represents the value of what it means to change, to choose, and to grow. In the true spirit that schools are living things, the divergence provides us that glimpse of who our children are becoming.
