HEADMASTER’S UPDATE

Dear Old Reptonians, What a pleasure it is to write to you from a Repton fully alive once more. There has been a genuine feeling of joy as we have been able to come together to participate in some of the activities that form part of school life at Repton. Facemasks, one-way systems and year-group bubbles have been replaced with smiling faces, packed pitches and busy rehearsal rooms; and we have enjoyed all the everyday interactions across the School that give us our sense of family and belonging. Of course, we continue to remain vigilant, aware of rising case numbers across the nation and the appearance of a new variant, with safety of pupils and staff an absolutely priority.

National Recognition for Digital Excellence

I feel real pride in the character with which our community has coped with the challenges of the last two years. Staff have shown outstanding commitment and readiness to adapt, and the second enforced period of online school earlier this year also benefited from a major – and timely – transformation of our IT provision. As a result, lessons continued live and uninterrupted, keeping pupils on track academically and at the same time supporting their wellbeing with an extensive pastoral and co-curricular programme. We are delighted that our success in remote learning has been recognised in various national awards and the acceleration in our digital journey means that we are now very strongly placed to lead the way in the sector, blending the very best of traditional face-to-face teaching with all the exciting opportunities EdTech can offer.

Highlights of 2021

For the Upper Sixth and O Block, of course, the main business of the Summer Term remained

A Levels and GCSEs, albeit with conventional examinations replaced by Teacher-Assessed Grades. Both year groups and staff rose to this challenge with characteristic resilience, and it was wonderful to see the pupils achieve such success – thoroughly well-deserved after all the disruptions and uncertainties of the last two years. At GCSE well over half the results achieved were grade 9 or 8, while at A Level a remarkable 64% of grades awarded were A* or A and over 90% at A*AB. This provides compelling testimony to the serious sense of purpose with which this cohort approached the final term and as a result 96% secured places at their first-choice institution and 66% to Russell Group universities, including five to Oxbridge and Ivy League. UCAS applications for 2022 entry are well underway.

School musicians, actors and artists have been inventive in presenting individual and smallerscale performances and exhibitions, however, we took great delight in seeing the 400 Hall come alive once more for the outstanding production of Frankenstein this term. One thing that never changes is Repton’s appetite for sporting success. There has been great success on the football and hockey pitches this term and an impressive number of our young sportsmen and women have been in action for their respective countries across a range of sports, including cricket, athletics, and tennis, and no fewer than 14 of our hockey players representing England, GB and the USA. Repton Swim Club continues its rapid growth. Offering a premier programme for academically minded swimmers aiming at international success alongside community access, it ended its first full year with 10 members ranked in the top 20 nationally.

We welcomed ORs, friends of Repton and the Eton Fives Association to the re-opening of the refurbished Fives Courts on Saturday 13th November. Fives is enjoying a real renaissance amongst current pupils and alongside tennis, squash and other sports will form part of the new Repton Rackets Club – emulating the successful model of the Swim Club to

The OR Community

There is no doubt that our current pupils are inspired not just by the superb facilities they enjoy but by the remarkable pedigree of their OR predecessors. The Tokyo Olympics saw Shona McCallin (A’08) and Leah Wilkinson (A’03) winning bronze with Great Britain in the women’s hockey competition and Charlotte Stapenhorst (A’11) again representing Germany. Bekah Walton (F’16) won her first British Championship in the women’s javelin this summer. And in the inaugural season of The Hundred, many of you will have enjoyed the sight of Ross Whiteley (N’05) smashing 44 off 19 balls in the men’s final to help Southern Brave take the title, while Jonathan Batty (L’90) coached the Oval Invincibles to their victory in the women’s competition. These successes were just one of the many topics under discussion at the Repton Pilgrims Cricket Club Centenary Dinner in early September – a superb celebration of the club’s heritage, magnificently organised by James Ross and the OR team and with fascinating reminiscences spanning the club’s 100-year history from a distinguished series of players and staff, including President Richard Hutton (H’56) (Yorkshire CCC and England).

This was followed by the well attended OR Sports Night at Queen’s Club in October, and the OR Dinner the evening before the School’s Remembrance service in the Chapel, followed by wreath-laying in The Garth by Michael Barnwell (O’57), OR President Emeritus.

The following week we hosted The Priory House Centenary Dinner, celebrating 100 years of The Priory being located on the high street in Repton, having moved from it’s original location, The Old Priory. and over ninety guests came together to re-connect and reminisce, sharing memories of their time in The Priory. Looking to 2022, the Summer Ball, now on 7th May 2022 at The Hurlingham Club in Fulham, will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of girls at Repton. Details of all forthcoming OR events can be found on Repton Life.

The OR office team, under the leadership of Andrew Cook, has strengthened further with the appointment of Jess Smith as Deputy Development Director, and she is already incontact with many of you to develop networking initiatives such as business hubs. In addition to

which, Lia Rothman has joined taking over the reins from Jan Cobb who has retired after 13

years’ service to the OR Office.

Looking Forward with Confidence

There is much to celebrate in the School’s

glorious history, but our future undoubtedly looks equally bright. We have opened this year at full capacity, with nearly 630 pupils at the senior school and over 400 in the prep. This is matched by the continued growth of the Repton family of schools, the latest addition - Repton Cairo – making a total of seven international schools and three in the

UK (Repton, Repton Prep and St Wystan’s); and we remain very well-placed to take advantage of further opportunities in the UK and overseas. Back home we began the year with a clear focus on the core business of

our pupils’ academic development, under the leadership of our new Deputy Head Academic, Mr Ashley Currie: making the most of the inestimable value of the taught lesson, maximising achievement of course, but also encouraging their intellectual curiosity beyond the classroom with a reinvigorated menu of academic societies.

One of the many pleasures of working in education is that wonderful sense of renewal and revitalisation which each new school year brings, but now, more than ever, this feels a very exciting time for the School. As ORs you are a crucial part both of Repton’s history and of our present community; I very much look forward to sharing our forward journey with you.

With my very best wishes,

Mark Semmence Headmaster

Welcome to the OR Society 2021 Leavers

We wish our 2021 leavers the best of luck as they begin a new chapter in their lives.

Despite some of the challenges presented by COVID restrictions and a change to the normal format of Speech Day, we were delighted to be able to give our wonderful Upper Sixth a celebratory lunch on their last day at Repton.

In our Headmaster’s words, they are “an

indelible part of Repton history, not just onlookers of these memorable days, but shaping them through their vibrant, kind, amusing presence.”

We applaud them and look forward to sharing their achievements beyond the Arch, of which we know there will be many.