Speech Day 2018
Speech Day was, as ever, a wonderful day of celebration – made all the more special for the opportunity it afforded the School Community to welcome our new headmaster, Dr Robson. The Swing Band has made a tradition of turning out exceptional performances, and the half-hour of fantastically upbeat music set the scene perfectly. Thereafter Mr Finbow formalised the welcome with an introduction that both encapsulated what we stand for and gave Dr Robson the platform to see where we might go from here. That Dr Robson did so with such enthusiasm and passion, and with heartfelt appreciation of his predecessors Mr Tetley and Mr Cole, was extremely well received – as were his five top tips for our leavers bound for university! Amongst them: do not fear failure, but embrace instead the opportunities that the risk of failure opens up. It’s a great message, and one all of our prize winners clearly hold dear given the wealth of achievements they have secured and range of endeavours they have undertaken. Indeed, once the presentations were at an end and their praises sung, Dr Robson felt compelled to honour them once more with words that were touchingly delivered with just a hint of a lump in the throat… not that he’s the first to find the achievements of our children (young adults!), when laid out so strikingly, pretty emotionally overwhelming.
It fell to Head Girl Lily and Head Boy Harry to close proceedings with their beautifully judged votes of thanks intermingled with reflections on their own experiences here. Not a dry eye in the house… Perfect
