A Word from the Headmaster

from Reed's School – The Reeder 2020

Andrew Reed in the Limelight

Everyone has inside of them a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!

It may seem unorthodox to start my letter to ORs with a quote from Anne Frank, but I read this to our pupils during a ‘virtual’ assembly: the parallel with lockdown (albeit somewhat different for her) and her age seemed to make it especially poignant:

“Everyone has inside of them a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”

In many ways, it aptly sums up what the last few months, in particular, have shown us all within the Reed’s community. This is certainly true of our current pupils who responded with great resilience and adaptability to the remote-learning model forced upon them by lockdown. The teaching staff rose magnificently to the challenge of the digital journey to continue to be ‘best in class’ with our provision across the curriculum – adapting, enhancing and developing all areas of school life as required. The numerous positive and constructive messages I received from parents in support of all the hard work and dedication from teachers and all staff has been testament to this.

In many ways, as a result of the challenges with which the pandemic presented us, the academic year has been very special in bringing us closer together as a community. The last, major, whole-school event before lockdown was our return to the Hideaway Jazz Club in Streatham for an exceptional celebration of the musical talents of our pupils, orchestrated by the irrepressible Mr Carnegie and his team. Demand for tickets was so high we decided to livestream the performance so everyone could enjoy the evening – a portent of things to come, as it transpired.

Lockdown also cut short the hockey season. After defeating RGS Guildford in the semi-final, the 1st XI, unbeaten for two years, had the opportunity to defend their national title at the Olympic Park. Of course, this did not happen and so we take comfort in the fact that the finalists were crowned joint winners and we became back-to-back National Champions – a remarkable achievement! There were also national titles galore for our tennis players and skiers, and in all our sports there was success.

Speaking of the Olympic Park, for two nights in January, Woking Theatre was transformed into the Paris Olympics of 1920 as the protagonists of our School production, Chariots of Fire, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddle, battled each other and their own inner turmoil in the quest for gold medals. Wonderful direction, performances and set design, complete with travellator for the running sequences marked this production. We were all delighted that our combination of achievement and participation was acknowledged at the TES Independent Schools’ Awards, which is a bit like the Grammys for independent schools! Facing stiff opposition from other nominees such as Repton and Wellington College, we were delighted to be awarded the Sports Award for 2020. We were also nominated for two other awards: Independent-State School Partnership and Best Use of Technology which was also very pleasing.

Post lockdown, what has most definitely lifted my spirits – and I know those of many others too – has been seeing the pupils taking the initiative to be kind to each other, as well as to organise some incredible fundraising for charity. There are too many to mention, but we had Sixth Formers undertaking half marathons, pupils cycling from Lands End to John o’ Groats, musicians writing charity songs, cooks baking, athletes running great distances, tennis scholars showcasing their skills… and this doesn’t even include all the amazing House and staff charity fundraising events that took place too. And all to raise money for charities like: Blood Cancer UK, Age UK, NHS Charities Together, Muscular Dystrophy, The Rainbow Trust, Refuge and The Princess Alice Hospice. I think if we totted up all this fundraising activity, the total raised would be in excess of £30,000.

I must also pay special tribute to Paul Millington and Keith Ditchburn who – with myriad helpers – designed, made, and distributed over 4,000 PPE visors to more than 20 local hospitals, clinics, care homes and health practices. This initiative truly defined what community is all about.

To continue the theme of compassion and philanthropy, I think it is important to touch upon the Foundation. When we began to suspect that schools may be closed, we assessed each Reed’s Foundation pupil individually and the impact the pandemic would have. We wanted to make sure that we could maintain their academic development, as well as support their pastoral needs. We put in place measures to provide them with access to technology, remote counselling services, food vouchers and supplies. For our Foundation pupils and their families, this sense of Reed’s community has been a lifeline and we are indebted to everyone who has given so generously to our emergency COVID-19 Foundation Appeal. A more detailed breakdown can be found in the Foundation section on page 106.

And so to some goodbyes...

It is at the end of the academic year when we say farewell to colleagues, several of whom are moving on to promotions in other schools or retiring from post; all have made a tremendous contribution to Reed’s and we thank them for their skill and commitment. Fuller acknowledgements can be found in the Valete section on page 74. However, it is to our Upper Sixth students that I must pay special tribute: they are a wonderful group of young men and women who have really come into their own during a challenging final year at School, with lockdown, cancelled exams and the debacle around A Level results but who, I know, will go on to be fully committed Old Reedonians. They are a key generation with much in society that will need their attention, energy and commitment. Combined with their Reed’s values-driven education, I feel their ability to adapt and to change ‘the norm’ is exactly what is needed in tackling the many pressing global issues: equality, social deprivation, food security and – not least – environmental meltdown, which is so eloquently analysed in our lead article by fellow OR, Keith Scholey. With such brilliant alumni role models, I am excited and hopeful for a brighter future with our leavers shaping it. With the uncertainties of the last few months in particular, I have found the School motto FIDE a helpful reference point. We need to ‘have faith’ in each other and in our community, indeed in society, that we will adapt and surmount the challenges we face. I will leave you with a quotation from Nelson Mandela who sums up why at Reed’s, but also on a national and global basis, we all care so much about school, about education. He said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” How true on every level.

My best wishes to you all now and until we can welcome you back to School.