As the academic year hurtles to a close, it is almost time to take a step back and have a well-earned rest. We have, all of us, worked so hard this year.
Our last few days have been spectacularly enjoyable, complex to create but beautifully simple to enjoy.
The Prep Sports Day on Friday ran like clockwork, with stunning weather to match the superb organisation. The houses marched out in style and competed with ambition and mutual support and respect. It was exciting to see some new records set, equalled and old ones broken:
Year 7&8 1500m P Parker-Swift – 6.2.8.21min (from 6.29.35)
Year 6 High Jump S Newton – 1.49m (from 1.41m)
Year 5 High Jump M Cameron – 1.38m (from 1.37m)
Year 5 100m J Wiseman (=record 14.19)
Congratulations to all the winners and to all who pushed themselves to their own limits.
Thank you and congratulations too, to Cal Wade, whose immaculate organisation triumphed on the day and all staff who worked hard to make it happen and to be such a fun day.
The evening celebrations and the gorgeous weather led to a convivial evening of barbecue, sizzled and served by a strong staff team, time to play freely, chat, enjoy a drink and then the excitement of the all-night camp out. It was good to see children playing and laughing in mixed age groups, enjoying the space and the warm summer sun. An enormous debt of gratitude is owed to Fraser Wiseman, who masterminded the logistics and the practicalities of the camp out, plotting pitches, shopping for food and drink, cooking, cleaning and staying awake to look after everyone. A merry band of colleagues joined him to serve and clear and to each person involved a very warm and heartfelt thank you.
On Monday we were treated to the talents of Pre-Prep, when they performed their “Plastic Pirates” songs for us. I later very much enjoyed the whole environmentally on-message show, with not only plenty of opportunity for solo and ensemble work, but also the sea of underwater creatures colourfully bedecked. It was great that Zerrin Leech is fit to return to work to congratulate the pupils and staff on an excellent year in Pre-Prep. I’m proud of each and every one of them.
Alongside our super sports day, we held a magnificent Old Michaelians’ Day and met, for the first time in one case, some interesting former pupils who have lead very successful lives in different professions and regard the school with fondness and a deep connection, born of the fact that they boarded here. One of our Old Michaelian visitors explained that when he transferred to his fine independent senior school he struggled to not be boarding and felt that there was something missing.
Today’s struggle I think, for pupils, and particularly today, the last day of term, is to actually say goodbye. But of course this isn’t ultimately necessary because although they won’t be with us every day, all staff and pupils will always have a place at St Michael’s. We want to be in touch. We want to hear your news we want to engage on social media and we want to follow the careers of our spectacularly successful and varied cohort of leavers as they go out to make their mark on their next schools and the world beyond.
It was easy to detect how splendid our pupils are at last night’s Prize Giving. It was utterly delightful to welcome Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen to the stage and he certainly showed us the art of feeling comfortable performing.
Laurence’s nephews attend St Michael’s and we were absolutely thrilled that he agreed to come and present the prizes to our lucky winners this year. From the moment he arrived, Laurence was bubbling with humour and quips that put the children on stage very much at their ease. Having declared that our marquee was quite retro and suggesting that perhaps we had too much fabric around the window apertures, he went on to talk with some passion about the charity MERU which his father set up to assist severely disabled children with the simple tasks of life by making and engineering tools to support their independence. Laurence kindly waived his appearance fee (phew!) and instead asked the school to make a donation to MERU to continue the good work. Laurence made us laugh and gave us food for thought about creativity and following your dreams, about being unconventional and passionate and he certainly demonstrated that being funny gets you places. If there are parents that would also like show the measure of their enjoyment of last night’s occasion they would be most welcome to do so at the following link https://fundraising.qef.org.uk/donate/donate-qef. Please be generous .
I shall be writing to you all towards the end of the summer to send you my Head’s Review of the year and update you on the progress of Stable Court and the Astroturf.
In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy summer holiday.
Jill Aisher
