What RGS means to me

In his final assembly as Head Boy earlier this year, Jamie Robson (01-11) gave a heartfelt speech to the rest of the school about his time at the RGS

Almost a month ago, I was in the RAF club in London attending an ONA dinner. The man sitting across from me was an elderly gentleman. I spoke to him once all evening. I asked him when he left school, and he said “I left in person in 1952. But part of me never left. Part of me will stay there forever”.

On Friday I sat down to write my entry for the Leavers’ Yearbook. One of the questions was ‘what has been your greatest achievement at the RGS?’ I wrote being made Head Boy. But last week I formally stepped down as Head Boy. This marks the beginning of the end of my time here. By the time I leave, I will have been at the RGS for 10 years. When I look back, I try to pick out the most memorable, or treasured memories I have from this school. There are things I have done which I am proud of, some things which I wish I had done better, and some things I wish I had had a go at. But no regrets. This school will be more than just memories. It has shaped what I have done, who I have become, and what I will do in the future. When I leave, I will not just take memories away, but something much more. The spirit of this school is something that will remain with me until the day I die. The pride we all feel when we walk through this hall. The constant and underlying feeling of optimism that follows RGS students around. Sometimes it is too easy to forget all that we get from this place. I have met many Old Novos this year, people who still celebrate the fact that they went to the RGS 20, 30, 40 even 50 years ago. They all remember their

days here, and remember them with the fondest of feelings. This school and the people in it have been my life for the past 10 years. It has become a home from home, a place where I feel welcome and somewhere that I can make a difference. I have met some fantastically talented, clever, sporty, arty and cultured people –but all good people. Some of you I have never met. Some of you are distant friends. But some of you have become like brothers and sisters. Because friends are the family we chose for ourselves, and this school has allowed us to grow these

On Friday I sat down to write my entry for the Leavers’ Yearbook. “ One of the questions was ‘what has been your greatest achievement at the RGS?’ I wrote being made Head Boy. ”

This school will be more than just memories. It has shaped “ what I have done, who I have become, and what I will do in the future. When I leave, I will not just take memories away, but something much more. The spirit of this school is something that will remain with me until the day I die. ”

bonds of friendship, and allowed them to flourish. These are the best years of our lives, and when I look back I see days when I wasted this time. I see times when I did not help people I should have helped, times when I didn’t do something I should have done. I wish I hadn’t wasted those times. Every moment here is precious, and you don’t realise how precious until your time is up. So make the most out of each day because the time flies.

This is our community, our place of learning. Sitting in this hall are our friends, our team mates, our brothers and sisters. So look around, and think of all the people who make these days so special. All the people who you will miss, and who will miss you. When we walk through this hall we celebrate all that is good about this school, and we celebrate a history of excellence and tradition. I hope that one day, you all look back and think that the years spent at the RGS were some of the best years of our lives. In 1924, Stanley Baldwin, then Prime Minister, delivered a speech to Birkbeck College. I think his description of education summarizes what the RGS offers, and has given to us, both as academics and as people: “There are many definitions of education. The first thing is to be master of our own job; but to be educated we must know enough of the other man’s job to be able to understand the part he is playing in life, and to play our own part in sympathy with him. We also have to learn to play our part as members of the Commonwealth, or, in other words, to have humanity, by which I mean knowledge of the things that pertain to humanity, of the way to go about among our fellows, ready to help and to sympathize with them. Do not go through life as a perpetual blister.”

It has been a pleasure and an honour to serve as Head Boy this year. I wish you all the very best for the future. Thank you

all once again for making these years so special.

“This is our community, our place of learning. Sitting in this hall are our friends, our team mates, our brothers and sisters. So look around, and think of all the people who make these days so special. 15 ” ONA –Old Novocastrians Association Magazine Autumn 2011