Headmaster's End of Year Speech 2008

End of year report on the academic year 2007-8 Wednesday 27 August 2008

Lord Lieutenant, Mr Stewart-Roberts, Governors, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls -

It is with a great sense of pride that I stand here today to give my first Headmaster’s Speech. I hope it will be the first of many at St Aubyns – it will be many as far as I am concerned, and I trust that the Chairman has nothing to tell me to the contrary later - because I am proud to be associated with a great school – a school with traditions and with traditional values, where we are not afraid to talk about appearance and table manners, about respect and politeness, about commitment to the school and about excellence in achievement; but also a school which is above all a community, where individuals are nurtured and understood as individuals with all the circumstances of an individual situation, where relationships across the year groups are strong and where we foster the sense of a common identity.

Caroline and I first visited St Aubyns in the Autumn Term of 2006, having read of the school and prepared ourselves to face a ferocious panel of inquisitors. Our initial impression left us feeling rather downbeat as we saw buildings a little worse for wear and an old-fashioned feel about the school. I know that we considered turning around and making the journey back to Cambridge straightaway. But then we began to meet the people. We were shown around by (if my memory serves me rightly) Caroline and Serena and they as products of the school helped us to look beneath the surface. We saw confident, alert, well-mannered and helpful young ladies who spoke highly of what St Aubyns meant for them. We will always be grateful to them and the other Year 7s (as they were at the time) with whom we had lunch – they showed us the heart of this school, not just its facilities or its achievements, but the people who become here the true pride and glory of the school.

It is a remarkable group of Year 8s who are leaving us at the end of this term. They are remarkable for what they have achieved – go and read the Honours Board in the Library if you have not seen it already. But they are remarkable for their spirit, the support they have given each other, the manner in which they have conducted themselves this year. They are not perfect (none of them, and some less so than others ), but I would say to the rest of the school – you could not have better young men and young women to model yourselves on than the best of our Year 8 Leavers – if you can imitate their best qualities, then you will have the kind of happy, fulfilling and successful final year here that they have enjoyed.

As a school we reflect today on what St Aubynsachieved this year. And as we do so I would invite everyone here to join me in proud celebration of excellence, but also to look beneath the surface at the quality of character that underpins what 2008 means for St Aubyns.

On the academic front we are celebrating five Academic Scholarships – Lydia Webb the highest grades of all scholarship candidates at Hurstpierpoint, Eric Watts at Hurstpierpoint, Julian Keeling ranked third at Lancing, Caroline Jeffery and Cameron Dashwood at Brighton College. Lydia gained As and A*s in all of her papers, Caroline six A*s and As out of seven, Cameron five A*s and As, full marks gained by Julian in his French oral – each of these remarkable achievements. Beyond that our Year 8s have achieved places at twelve different schools between them passing Common Entrance and other exams to do so. Please note – we are a school independent of any senior school but able to prepare our children for a wide range and all, all, of our children passed Common Entrance to the school for which they chose to enter. These are boasts that not every school in Brighton can make this year and we are justifiably proud to proclaim it today. Amongst the Common Entrance candidates I will single out Kate Powell’s three As to Hurstpierpoint, Adi Whitworth’s A* (more than 80%) in English and three other As to Brighton College, Jess Poulter’s more than 70% (an A to most schools) in five subjects to Roedean, and Lutra Warren’s astonishing 90% in English in a paper marked internally. All the children have done well to achieve their individual goals and have supported each other when things have been difficult.

The academic results for departments have been very encouraging. Under the guidance of Mr Rowland, informed with his own history of experience, no candidate in scholarship or Common Entrance was awarded lower than a B; 4 As or A*s in scholarship exams for Science bear witness to the fine shape in which Mrs Baker will leave the Science department when she goes on maternity leave part way through September. And the Year 6 team’s victory in the Lancing Science Challenge is a sign of good things to come. We will with sorrow lose Mrs Wooldridge from our academic strength at the end of this year. She leaves after just over five years at St Aubyns in which she has settled the department and encouraged many children to believe that they can learn an ancient language and enjoy it. This year’s results with only As and Bs at scholarship and excellent Common Entrance grades are a fitting tribute to what she has achieved throughout her time here. We wish her well as she takes over the leadership of the department at St Andrew’s in Eastbourne and continues to work alongside her husband in a boarding house at Eastbourne College.

One of my greatest pleasures is to recognise with a Headmaster’s Commendation excellent work and effort from children throughout the school. On their teacher’s recommendation they bring me work which I always reward in some way – from time to time I set a higher target for an individual before they earn a commendation. Commendations cover the work of the child who has scored full marks in five successive spelling tests in Transition which for him is an excellent achievement to the phenomenal research of a child in Year 7 into the Periodic Table (a piece of work for most adults to be proud of). If your child comes home with their Commendation this is no small achievement – celebrate it with them. In a determined spirit of inclusiveness I can assure you that every child in the school has the possibility of a Commendation, if they will exceed expectations which are appropriate to them and by effort or attainment impress me and their teachers. This year 142 Commendations have been awarded and I have instituted a new prize this year which recognises the child who has gained the most.

On the academic front the adoption of new literacy schemes in Years 1 and 2, of new spelling schemes in Years 3 to 6, increases to the amount of Maths taught to Years 7 and 8, ICT in Years 7 and 8, French beginning in Reception (not just Year 2) and more Form Tutor-based teaching in Transition and Year 4 are each of them small changes to the timetable which the school has made during this year and ahead of next to ensure that the curriculum at St Aubyns continues to provide all that your children need to make the progress of which they are capable.

Many of our Year 8s have been here since the Pre-prep and some are completing ten years at St Aubyns having joined us in the Nursery. This is where they began their schooling and their current achievements have that foundation. A few weeks ago in the midst of a particularly hectic afternoon in the office with phone calls and meetings and deliveries, Mrs Towner came to me and told me that Ofsted had phoned and were coming to inspect the Nursery in three days time. Mrs Towner has a great sense of humour and loves practical jokes, so I politely asked her not to say that kind of thing when we were all so busy. When she told Mrs Poulter she met with the same response. However, it was true! Three days later the Ofsted Inspector gave us a provisional judgement of outstanding – the highest possible assessment. Teaching and Learning, Partnership with Parents, Spiritual, Moral, Social and Citizenship Education and Leadership and Management were all praised. In fact, the Inspector said the hardest thing about the day was finding any recommendation for improvement. When the report is published we will make it available on the school website. The Nursery at St Aubyns under the leadership of Mrs Poulter and her team and supported as part of the Pre-prep by Mrs Sams is in great shape. Over the summer they will be moving to have their own space within the school in the wooden building next to the swimming pool. My thanks to all who have made St Aubyns’ Nursery such a success this year.

Having mentioned the school website I want to take this opportunity to thank Mr and Mrs Whitworth publicly for all that they have done in the past years to create a website for the school and to provide hosting for it without charge. As Adi leaves at the end of Year 8, a long association for them with the school comes to a close and the school website will be transferred to new hosts. But the work that you have done in establishing and maintaining this window for the world on the school is greatly appreciated, and I wish to thank you for it today.

From the Pre-Prep we say goodbye at the end of term to Mrs Redman. She has enabled us to split a large Year 2 into two groups this year teaching English and Maths to one class in the mornings. The children in her care have grown to have great respect and affection for her, and we thank her for her contribution to the school.

A current American art director has written ‘The arts are the expression of the soul. They matter because they are the most beautiful ways for the soul to speak.’ Arts Express Days at St Aubyns encapsulate the philosophy of learning through performance and of the enhancing power of self-expression. Such days this year have seen a whole Prep School trip to the West End, a World War 2 plane swooping over the playing fields, a Tudor Galleon built and displayed in the Sports Hall and a host of artistic and dramatic experiences centred on the theme of Then and Now, learning from the past in Pre-Historic, Mediaeval, and Tudor times and the 1940s. Such days enhance the curriculum enormously and are a very special feature of the school. Under the direction of Miss Spink and the Arts Express team the vibrancy of this aspect of school life is assured.

You will have seen this morning some of the Art and Design work that your children have produced. Throughout the school children’s work in the corridors reminds us of their creativity and of the excellent work that Mrs McChrystal and the Pre-Prep teachers enable your children to produce. Julian Keeling’s cows have graced the reception area outside Mrs Fokes’ office for much of this year; his and Cameron Dashwood’s Art Scholarships are just the tip of a vast mountain of creativity. The imaginative and emotional artistic responses to World War 2 on the Arts Express Day for Years 6 to 8 spoke of the way in which Mrs McChrystal enables all of the children to express feeling in their Art. My thanks to her for all her work this year.

The performing arts at St Aubyns seem to go only from strength to strength. Miss Healey’s leadership of the dance department and her vision for new classes is sometimes hard to keep pace with. But the standard of dance – as seen last week at St Aubyns’ first performance dedicated solely to dance and by the results in our first ballet and tap exams – is very impressive. We are fortunate to have a teacher of Miss Healey’s calibre on the staff. And a special well done to those few boys who have chosen dance classes this year – as we aim to start dance classes specifically aimed at boys I hope that many will begin to realise what they have been missing.

On stage our shows have ranged from the Pre-prep Christmas play ‘Baboushka’ and their end of year show ‘South of the Equator’ (written and directed by our own Mrs Sams, and not to be missed this coming Wednesday), the Pre-prep Drama Club’s ‘Underwater Adventure’, the new undertaking of a Year 3 and 4 play ‘Beauty and the Beast’, the French Soirée (culminating in around 90 children on stage singing La Marseillaise) to the main school production of ‘Bugsy Malone’ where performances from James Spicer (Bugsy), Kate Powell (Blousy) and Adi Whitworth (Tallulah) were remarkable for characterisation and conviction. All children at St Aubyns perform in front of others at some point. Seven Drama awards have been won to senior schools (Cameron Dashwood, Caroline Jeffery and Adi Whitworth to Brighton College, James Spicer and Julian Keeling to Lancing, Serena Dowsing to St Bede’s, and Henry Nicholls to Worth). Our LAMDA students have excelled in their exams and in the concerts in which they have performed their pieces. I remember Hattie Page-Farrar’s remarkably moving piece ‘Too Late’ in the Autumn Term and the Senior Drama Club’s piece of their own devising on acceptance and tolerance which was so impressive that I asked them to perform it to the rest of the school a few days later. Drama is about teamwork and the ethos of teamwork was displayed for me last week by an occurrence at the Midsummer Madness music and drama evening. When George St John Loder and Sam Harrison had performed their pieces with great aplomb and both were receiving the audience’s applause, with genuine appreciation and modesty George turned to Sam and applauded him enthusiastically. That is the spirit that leads to great productions and with such spirit and under the direction of Miss Spink we can look forward to many more great shows gracing the St Aubyns stage. My thanks to Miss Spink and to all who have directed shows this year.

We welcomed Mr Hammersley to the school in September and he has led the Chapel Choir in many excellent performances (not least this morning). Our Friday Chapels are to me a key time in the life of the school when we come together as a community and have time to pause and reflect. Indeed, the very moving Remembrance Day Service is a special memory of this year for me and the singing of the final hymn at the Easter Service was a moment when the school quite literally spoke with one voice. The Choir’s role in leading the school on those occasions is crucial, and the fact that they were able to represent the school so well by singing evensong at Chichester Cathedral is great credit to their hard work. A Singers’ Concert was a new addition this year to the musical life of the school and the opportunity to showcase yet more of the children’s talent. This year we say goodbye to Mrs Parry who has led the Music Department for three years. She has made a significant impact on the school and moves on to give more time to her music teaching and cello teaching with the West Sussex Wider Opportunities Key Stage 2 scheme. She leaves a department in which more than 80 children are learning instruments, in which three children (Chloe Jackson to Brighton College, Kate Powell to Hurstpierpoint and Henry Nicholls to Worth) won Music Awards to their next school this year, and judging by the performances at last week’s concert there are many budding musicians of quality coming up through the school. Mrs Parry, we wish you well in your future.

Every week in our School Meeting we have reports from the team coaches on the most recent matches and sporting events. Early in my time here I discovered that children at St Aubyns learn to lose with dignity and to focus on the positive aspects of their performance. Which is not to say that there have not been some very successful teams this year – most notably the U13 Netball team and the U9 boys in all their sports (one loss each in the football and cricket seasons and an unbeaten rugby season culminating in winning the Prep Schools Tournament at Hurstpierpoint). If you have an hour or two to spare, please do ask Mr Ndau about the Under 9s – listen to him on the theme of the children he has coached this year and you will have no doubt as to where the children derive their passion from. A strong Year 7 presence in Brighton Rugby Club’s remarkable year, during which they reached the national final, promises well for the coming season. Individual excellence has led to five sports awards to senior schools (Jess Poulter to Roedean, Caroline Jeffery and Harry Klus to Brighton College, Eric Watts to Hurstpierpoint and Helen Clements for Tennis to St Bede’s) and a number of children achieving county standard in cricket, golf, netball, tennis, football and athletics. The recent county-wide athletics meetings at Crawley and Hurstpierpoint saw Caroline Jeffery, Will Powell and Brandon Joseph-Buadi win first and second places in their finals which for Caroline and Will means qualification for the nationals as part of the Sussex County team. Our congratulations to them and to all who have excelled on the sports field this term. And yet the spirit of sportsmanship is more important than all. In my first term here I received an e-mail from the opposition coach following our 1st team’s visit to Hurstpierpoint which contained these words: “……All in all, the best 1st team football I have seen played in my five years at Hurst. Credit to St. Aubyn’s too for a fantastically skilful game of football played in a sporting spirit, exemplified by a St. Aubyn’s boy telling me that the ball had gone off him when I had wrongly awarded St. Aubyn’s a goal kick. Both teams should be proud of having served up such an entertaining end to end game in the warm weather. It was quite simply a pleasure to have refereed you. Thank you. Man of the match? No-one. Men of the match, all 24 of you.” Such a comment is worth more than trophies and first places, because again it is about the character of people and their inner quality. My thanks to Mr Marara, Miss McCallum and all of the staff who have taught games this year – I know that alongside the sporting skills you have taught have been the values of honesty and fair play that make sport worth playing.

For just two years Mr Marara has run the games at St Aubyns and yet in that time he has made a huge impression on a large number of children and on the organisation of the department. His expertise and his ability to communicate his knowledge have earned him respect around the prep school circuit. As new opportunities have opened up for him at Ardingly College Prep where he will be running the Boarding House we are excited for him as well as sad that it is time for him to move on. Mr Marara, you have done much for St Aubyns in your short time here. Thank you, and best wishes for your future.

There are many people who do not take the limelight at St Aubyns without whose hard work the school would not function. Mrs Edwards runs the vitally important Learning Plus programme which keeps all of the teachers informed of your children’s needs in being stretched and being supported and provides one-to-one and small group support for many. Her work underpins St Aubyns’ commitment to individual learning and the fact that the lights are often on in her room long after school has finished is a tribute to her own commitment to each one of your children. This year has seen two anniversaries which we have quietly celebrated as a staff. Mrs Fokes celebrated 21 years at St Aubyns. No-one has a grasp of the detail of the way the school works to match hers. She has been invaluable to me and Caroline in helping us to get to know the ins and outs of St Aubyns. Thank you, Mrs Fokes; I personally and the school as a whole are deeply indebted to you. The other anniversary is one that I may not be thanked for reminding him of. Mr Greet reached his half-century earlier this term, and 28 of those years have been spent at St Aubyns. On a day by day basis, Mr Greet is the mastermind who plots the changes to allow for all the different events that a day in the life of St Aubyns may bring. He is to many children and colleagues St Aubyns personified, because he has lived and breathed its every moment during three decades. Caroline and I have relied on him this year to explain the way in which all the special days such as today work, and we have found it a privilege to work and to plan with him. Thank you, Mr Greet. There are many teachers and all the support staff whom I have not mentioned by name today, but who care for your children and help this school to function. Please join with me in thanking the teaching staff and all the domestic staff for this past year.

The academic year of 2007-8 has been highly successful for the children at St Aubyns. Time demands that I have focused on a few things – I wish that I could talk about the progress the lower set Year 4 English has made, or remind you of more brilliant moments of music and drama, or to tell you of the acts of kindness, generosity and helpfulness which occur every day at St Aubyns as your children respond of their own accord to the atmosphere and character of the school. But this is where I will leave you: you will find schools with greater resources and with grander facilities, but judge St Aubyns by the inner qualities of which I have spoken today and you will judge us fairly. Parents (and grandparents) be proud of your children today, and in being so be proud of the school which they represent.

And now I have asked the Head Boy and Head Girl to say a few words.