Activities, celebrations and Farewells

As another year draws to a close, our community of staff, students, parents and alumnae participate in the customary rituals of the summer term. It is a time for summative activities, celebrations and farewells.

We celebrate the efforts and progress of all of our senior school students who have participated in end of year assessments. Their results reflect their hard work and industry, as well as the efforts their teachers have made to teach and support them. Some will be happy with how they have performed, others may be disappointed, but these are formative tests, rather than summative exams and there is time and opportunity still to reflect on where progress still needs to be made. So, at this stage we celebrate their progress and effort, rather than their achievements in absolute terms.

Richard Girvan

As an important counterpoint to summer assessments, a number of year groups have enjoyed residential trips packed with activities, with students in Years 7, 8 and 9 all spending a week away from home and school being together as well as learning ‘in the field’. It was brilliant to be able to spend two days on the Year 8 trip on the south coast and observe students enjoying various activities from coasteering to sea kayaking, giant paddle boarding to navigating water park inflatables. Activities were designed to be enjoyed as well as to provide opportunities for appropriate levels of physical or mental challenge. I was struck by how students really got stuck in and by the brilliant support they received from one another and also from my colleagues, who encouraged, counselled and cajoled, while also setting a brilliant example and ensuring the trip ran like clockwork.

Celebratory events have taken place for those completing formal examinations in Year 11 and Year 13. I particularly enjoyed the Year 13 Leavers’ Dinner where parents, students and staff enjoyed a drinks reception and a wonderful meal at the charming Manor Barn in Harlton. Outgoing student president, Danika, and Mrs Paris each gave heartfelt and poignant tributes to the year, and academic and character prizes were awarded. The event provided an important fillip midway through the final term of examinations for A level students and marked the end of the exam period for our final cohort of IB students. As I write we look forward to the Leavers Service at the end of term in the Chapel at Gonville and Caius, where we will wish a fond farewell for the summer to the Year 13 Class of 2023 ahead of the publication of their results towards the end of August. The Year 11 Ball and BBQ events, marked the end of the GCSE years and an opportunity to look ahead to results in August and then on to sixth form study.

We wish Farewell to Tracy Handford, Vice Principal, and former Head of Dame Bradbury's, after 8 years of exemplary service at Stephen Perse.

Farewell to Tracy Handford

This year we must also say a particularly heartfelt thank you and farewell to Tracy Handford.

Tracy has been appointed as Head of Peponi House in Kenya from September 2023 - they are very fortunate to have secured her and she will be much missed by her colleagues at Stephen Perse schools. We thank Tracy for all that she has done as Vice Principal of the Stephen Perse Foundation in the years since Dame Bradbury’s joined our family of schools and, of course, all that she achieved before that as Head of Dame Bradbury’s. She has been a superb colleague, who has demonstrated remarkable industry and diligence in all of the many areas in which she has been involved in the running of the Foundation. We wish her and her family all the best on their new adventure in Kenya and look forward to hearing her news whenever she is able to join reunions again in future.

Life changing bursaries at Stephen Perse

Stephen Perse schools have always included a significant number of bursary and scholarship places. This academic year, we have provided financial assistance to 138 students across our schools and in September, as the new academic year begins, this will rise to around 280 bursaries and scholarships. Alongside our general bursary scheme we also offer some restricted bursary places, including sixth form places for students from North Cambridge Academy (NCA) and, more recently, to students displaced by conflict. The NCA scheme currently offers up to six fully-funded sixth form bursaries each year to students joining the sixth form nominated by North Cambridge Academy, a state secondary school in Arbury Ward, Cambridge, with which the Stephen Perse Foundation has close links. We are tremendously grateful to our partners at Costello Medical for their multi-year and ongoing support for this programme.

Our three-way partnership is used as a best-practice case study by Cambridge 2030 to encourage further partnerships between companies and schools in the independent and state sectors. We are actively seeking further corporate and trust partners to expand this programme, which provides better educational opportunities and outcomes for able young people, regardless of their family circumstances. The Conflict Bursaries scheme offers places to suitable candidates who have been displaced by conflict in their home country.

We are proud of what we have already achieved with our parents, students, staff and the wider community to support young people. We have committed ourselves to further increasing our bursaries and scholarships and you will see this develop as an ever important theme as we approach our 150th anniversary in 2031: a theme to celebrate and to lead our next phase of evolution as we return ever closer to our philanthropic and historic roots as an engine of social change.

In closing

The summer break provides the opportunity for what I like to refer to as the three R’s: Rest, Reflection and Reinvigoration. I hope that everyone enjoys a welcome break, has the opportunity to see family and friends, and to reflect on all that has happened this year and then to look forward to whatever 2023-24 brings for you. I look forward to seeing everyone who is returning to school in September and to staying in touch with those for whom this is the final year at the school and so are becoming members of the Stephen Perse Guild.

Richard Girvan Principal