A Word from the Headmaster

Iam frequently heard telling people that Reed’s is the greatest school, more often than not, they smile and say, ‘You’re the Headmaster, you would say that.’ But, quite simply, it is the truth.

There is a famous quotation, that many take credit for, which says ‘greatness is a lot of small things done well everyday’ and that is certainly the case at Reed’s. Hardly a day goes by in the academic year when I don’t sit back at the end of the evening and think ‘that was extraordinary’. Whether it was an inspiring guest speaker, a soul-lifting musical performance, a heart-stopping sporting victory or a simple act of kindness by one pupil to another; these are daily reminders of what greatness means and why we at Reed’s can justly lay claim to it.

For any school academic excellence is crucial; however, how that is defined, achieved and measured separates the ‘good enough’ from the outstanding. Using League Tables and results is a facile trap. By that measure Reed’s is excelling with over 72% A*/A grades at GCSE, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. They aren’t able to convey the ethos and values of the School; the character of our pupils; the commitment of our teachers to bring out the best in every pupil, not just the top percentile; or the breadth of our cocurricular offering. For this reason, this year we have made the decision to no longer publish our results in the League Tables. This is a bold move, but it is the right choice for our pupils.

Every day at the School brings not only outstanding and innovative teaching and learning, but also inspirational speakers, programmes and trips. We hosted Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards, to speak about ethics in politics; one of our Sixth Form EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) evenings focussed on challenging the place of independent schools; we ranked third worldwide in the prestigious ‘Maths in Motion’ competition and, alongside Operation Live we ran a conference for over 130 prospective medics… the list goes on and on.

Our curriculum is constantly being reviewed to ensure that we are teaching our pupils not only the core subjects, but also the skills and values they will need to compete in tomorrow’s economy; these include critical thinking, leadership, entrepreneurship and resilience. In May we hosted Futurologist, David Smith, to speak about the ‘intelligence revolution’ and the skills needed to succeed.

As education and technology are evolving so too must our facilities and this year we opened the new Sixth Form atrium, which combines individual study cubes, alongside collaborative pods and university-style group tables. This has already been transformational in our pupils’ study habits and academic rigour. It is just the start of a major development plan across most of our academic buildings.

The importance of the Arts for all our pupils cannot be understated: it allows our pupils not to only ‘lose themselves but also to find themselves at the same time,’ to adopt a phrase from Thomas Merton.

The school year had barely begun when we hosted The Jeremiah Brothers, comprised of two members from the band The Feeling. Our indomitable Director of Music, Iain Carnegie, had spent the summer orchestrating their music and when our pupils played alongside them it was an unmitigated triumph. Music continued to flourish throughout the year with a masterclass from world-renowned conductor, John Lubbock; our Carol service at Guildford Cathedral; a Third Form Reggae show; and performances at St Paul’s Cathedral and Steinway Hall. But the highlight of the year was when we took over The Hideaway Club in Streatham for an evening of jazz. Watching our pupils belt out classics such as ‘All that Jazz’ and ‘New York State of Mind’ left everyone in the audience star struck. It also gave us our first glimpse of Electric Sofa, a five-piece band of Lower Sixth Formers who compose and perform their own music; I suggest downloading them from Spotify now so you can say you knew them when…

Drama continues to be a force unto its own, and this year was no exception. Seeing our boys, including my own son, nonchalantly, and rather inelegantly, chatting away before Sense and Sensibility in full hoop skirts and make-up made me smile. Comfort in your own skin is something that can’t be fabricated for an exam. The year went on in the same fashion from a charming Emil and the Detectives, a dystopian Zero for the Young Dudes, an irreverent Chekov’s The Seagull to a rather surrealistic Gargantua, about a giant baby born after a two-and-a-half year pregnancy. But my favourite by far is always The Close Drama in a Day which involves our A Level students guiding pupils from The Close in devising and performing an original piece of work; this year it opened with one of the Sixth Form girls shepherding 110 Close boys onto the stage.

Art is always phenomenal; the pieces displayed in our Art Exhibition are truly superb The pupils have all made full use of our new art studio and the results speak for themselves. I’d invite you to come and see for yourself.

Although our sporting successes would make any Headmaster beam with

pride, it is the moments of camaraderie and spirit that really tell the story of sport at Reed’s. At our final rugby match of the season against KCS Wimbledon, our boys were clapped onto the pitch through a tunnel of parents and Old Reedonians singing ‘Oh Sandy Lane’. The opposition had never seen anything like it. It was a well-deserved finale to the end of an incredible unbeaten season: we were the smallest school on the circuit but ranked in the top ten nationally.

In fact, it was a top-ten hat-trick this year for our cricket, hockey and rugby. Our tennis team won the U13 British Championship, National Champions for dry slope U16 and U19 skiing as well as fifth at the World Championships. Golf, netball, horse riding, car racing, swimming, running, cycling, triathalon, beach volleyball – you name it, our pupils are doing it.

We also hosted our first girls’ cricket team since 1929; luckily for our 2018 team they weren’t required to play in long skirts and blouses.

Our state-of-the-art Jarrett Indoor Cricket Centre was opened in January by former Headmaster, David Jarrett, at an event which brought together parents, former parents, ORs, friends of the School and cricket legends, Alec Stewart CBE, and the 80 mile an hour bowling machine, Bob Willis, who, although not an Old Reedonian, did say that the only century he ever scored was in a match against Reed’s on Big Side. To top it all off, our fundraising campaign for the centre went on to win the prestigious IDPE Fundraising Campaign of the Year award.

Global Citizenship is deep within our DNA. As a school that was founded by a philanthropist and social reformer our pupils and staff are all committed to helping others, whether it is at home or

At our final rugby match of the season against KCS Wimbledon, our boys were clapped onto the pitch through a tunnel of parents and Old Reedonians singing ‘Oh Sandy Lane’. The opposition had never seen anything like it. It was a well-deserved finale to the end of an incredible unbeaten season: we were the smallest school on the circuit but ranked in the top ten nationally.

around the world. This year saw our pupils once again return to South Africa to help in townships through the Calabash Trust, support their House charities and run the House Charity revues. The Colour Run for the Rainbow Trust was an explosive, literally, day of colour and sound. Pupils ran under streams of colour dye to the sounds of thudding house music, as they completed a cross-country course for the Rainbow Trust. It was such a success that our students have been asked to work with other schools in setting up similar events.

The Foundation continues to expand in breadth and depth. We hosted our 202nd Annual Appeal at Grocer’s Hall with Michael Dobson, Chairman of Schroders, as our Appeal President. We expanded our outreach to include GCSE tutoring to pupils from Croydon and launched a new squash/maths afterschool programme for 20 pupils alongside RacketsCubed. We were honoured to have Jeremy Ovenden, a former Foundation pupil and worldrenowned tenor, speak at Speech Day. His story of perseverance, hard work and hope delivered with his customary humour and warmth inspired everyone present.

This mix of academic, co-curricular and character development, which uniquely defines Reed’s, seems to be working and we had another year of record applications to the School. Over 1100 families attended our Open Mornings, so many that we have had to move the final address from the Assembly Hall to the Sports Hall in order to accommodate everyone.

However, it wouldn’t be Reed’s to rest on our laurels and 2018-2019 is shaping up to be another packed calendar. I guess all those box sets will have to wait another year!

Snapshots of our School year

Snapshots of our School year