Before I launch into my brief address can I welcome our guest speaker, Darryl Cherrett – thanks for taking the time away from the High Court to be here today. There are a number of aspiring lawyers in the audience today I am sure – so if you were able to be around for a few minutes after we are done to talk to them then that would be great. If you are aiming for the spotlight in the courtroom then head Darryl’s way…
Good afternoon year 12 and 13 – and prize winners. I am SO glad that we can be here. Take a few moments just to soak up the atmosphere of this place. Take a sighting to see if you can spot the columns bending under the weight of stone in the spire (don’t worry they have been taking the strain for over 750 years so they will probably last the next 40 minutes or so!). Look for the optical vanishing point as the passage ways and arches march away from you towards the Eastern end and the altar. Sense the vastness, sealed in by limestone, oak and travertine. Wonder at the scattering of light through medieval and modern glass. Listen for the echoes of more than seven hundred years of worship for pilgrims and local alike. It’s quite something – something that I want everyone in the school to share but especially for you, Years 12 & 13, nearly 400 strong, who hold the standard for Bishop’s. I hoped that all 1,170 students could be here to share the wow factor, but that wasn’t to be. Whether you have been at Bishop’s for over 6 years or for just 3 weeks you can sense what it means to be a part of our community here in the very heart of Salisbury. Experiences like this really are an essential ingredient of the glue that holds us all together. Even in this world that seems to be turning upside down Prize Giving is important. You’ve all got a copy of the programme, which gives quite a vivid picture of what has gone on in the past academic year.
Despite the periods of lockdown there was still an enormous amount of busyness, a profusion of brilliant performances in different areas of the school, lots of examples of students and achieving amazing things in the teeth of adversity – or should I say getting things done despite self-isolation, the incursion of remote learning and the straitjacket of risk assessment. At times it has felt like we have been swimming against the tide, but the artists, sportsmen and women, musicians, politicians and academics have still shone through. That doesn’t happen by accident. A lot of determination, organisation and hard work have made things possible. Despite the sheer randomness of things, the unforeseen hurdles posed by Covid and the long list of things that simply can’t happen the truth is that we have still managed a huge amount here at Bishop’s. We should be very proud of that.
The canvas of the last academic year was laid out by tidal forces beyond our control here in Salisbury, but it was equally characterised by changes within the school. This year the developments were more profound than mere bricks and mortar, more far reaching than operational systems. During the roller coaster period of lock down and reopening, Bishop’s expanded to its biggest number of students ever, and for the first time in 93 years we welcomed female students back here in The Close. In September 2020 we started with 1055 students, including our biggest ever Year 12 (at 170) and just over 40 girls, and of course we have recently expanded again. There are now around 1170 students on roll, and over 100 Bishop’s Girls. The demographic growth was long planned of course, but theory is very different from the actuality, and with the benefit of a year’s experience it is clear that Bishop’s is now a school that is both bigger and better. More students mean more opportunity, stronger teams, more music, and stronger finances. The girls have brought colour, life, humanity, sporting and musical excellence and academic strength, and their arrival was universally welcomed by the staff. Their impact has been considerable, and it was fantastic to be able to appoint our first coeducational team of Prefects and Senior Prefects in the Summer Term. The first of many.
Bishop’s has changed in other ways over the period of the pandemic. An increasing amount of business happens via MS Teams, and much of this will stay as we come to live with Covid-19 in due course. So parents’ evenings will stay online, recruitment events will be a mixture of face to face and virtual formats, and briefings for parents will largely be online too. We will find a range of other events to get parents and students back in to school together so that they can meet their teachers, tutors, mentors and prefects – thus we have had the recent series of Year 7 House Suppers, a social evening for Year 9 and another for Year 12 which will follow. The functionality of Teams has meant that it has become the academic platform for the school, channelling homework, coursework, communications and enrichment for all age groups.
Despite the pandemic we have still managed to welcome a significant number of guest speakers, across a range of subjects, to shine a light on real world experience and broaden horizons. Many of those lectures have also been interactive live streamed events, and in many ways that works well as it encourages engagement more readily. The prospect of a South Western Railway train journey from Waterloo to Salisbury sometimes gets in the way of educational enrichment! That will all stay – and we are the better for it.
There was another aspect of the past year that was highly unusual – for the first, and probably the only time we had the process of teachers allocating grades for our candidates in Year 11 and Year 13 in lieu of GCSE and A levels respectively. Those of you in Year 12 experienced the GCSE version first hand, and I am not sure that anyone would want to see an encore. An uncertain few months topped off with a feeling that almost every piece of work submitted could be of critical importance. The edge of the abyss has probably never felt closer! Having said that you have emerged with a set of qualifications to be proud of and now you’re here. Phew! Of course the old hands in Year 13 are mid-journey, and it looks like exams will be back in fashion for summer 2022, albeit in a diluted form perhaps. All of you will have experienced the delights of online learning once again, and there will be areas of knowledge and understanding that are thinner than they should be. Stick with it this year – your teachers will make sure that they build your confidence through to the summer. Aim high and you’ll get there – and that’s the message that I would give to all of the boys and girls at Bishop’s for this current year.
The other unique experience that we’ve had in school during the past year have been the episodes of mass testing in March and once again earlier this month. In total over 5,000 lateral flow tests administered in the Sports Hall, masterminded by the Bursar and Mrs Miles, an extraordinary achievement. Now, of course, the vaccination programme is to come for 12-16 year olds, the next instalment in the Covid story. How the world has changed. Some one-off events for us all then, and some quite radical changes in the way that Bishop’s operates during the past year. What is unchanging is the character of the school and the place that you all – our seniors - have in it. Every time that you join an assembly or a tutor group for registration, each time you help to run a club, sort a society meeting, ride shotgun to a teacher on an extracurricular event, or volunteer to be a guide for parents and future students you are helping to build something special. Every time you sing in the Choir or play in an orchestra or band, help out with a vaccination, coach or build a team, mentor a youngster in a maze of Mathematical bewilderment, assist with Chapel or a service or represent all of us in a fixture you are creating – or recreating – what makes this school such a unique place in which to live and grow. You are here because you establish the path for others to follow; the past year has tested all of us but now we are in a very strong position to make this school - your school – an even better, more exciting place to be in the coming years.
We should all be in optimistic mood; there will be delays and frustrations in the coming year, but I feel that we are in a much better place with just some Covid aftershocks to endure. The school is in a good place and opportunity beckons for all of you, both Year 13 and 12 as we learn to live and learn in the post-pandemic world. Your job will be to really get stuck in and be ambitious – for yourself and what we can achieve here together in the shadow of the spire…
Thank you very much for listening.
SDS
