The Principal’s Message

The School was shortlisted for a National Prize for the experience of international boarders, and we won the National Schools Award category ‘Leadership Team of the Year’. Drama returned to large scale production, with a whole school production of Shrek as the highlight, and musicians once again enjoyed concerts aplenty – including a return to Proms in the Quad.

While 2020-21 was a year in which we experienced the see-saw of government restriction and ‘déconfinement’, 2021-22 was a year in which the School found a new normal. Covid’s comings and goings have made it increasingly hard to keep track of which normal we are in, but this version of new normal seems to have persisted. It was a year in which we ‘tiptoed’ back into large scale gatherings and held the largest Prize Day in the School’s history; we went back to face-to-face teaching and remained a remarkably digital school, with 3.8 million fewer pages of print coming out of our machines than before Covid; we returned to the exam hall and renewed our commitments to a breadth of education which had been difficult for two years.

What remained consistent, however, was the resilience, good humour and ambition of the average Berkhamstedian, the support of the parents, and the hard-working commitment of the staff to their pupils. Our enjoyment of a community which could go back to feeling like a community was often remarked on by pupils, parents and teachers.

Particular success was enjoyed in areas of sport – with the 1st XV winning the Daily Mail Trophy for the first time, and the Girls 1st XII being runners-up in the National Lacrosse Championship. The 1st Netball VII reached the semi-finals of the National Cup, and our Equestrians and Fives players also competed with great (customary) distinction.

The School invested in electric vans for the maintenance team, and electric bikes to help staff move around without the use of an internal combustion engine. Our sustainability plan will result in more tangible, and visible, signs of our reducing carbon footprint next year, when we also look forward to the new Sixth Form building rising from the site of Wilson House, Cox’s Bungalow and the maintenance buildings, all of which were demolished and cleared, creating a view of the West Wing from Tesco Car Park which has not been seen for some considerable time!

The number of bursary pupils in the School continues to increase, and their contribution to the life of the School is considerable. In addition to Afghan evacuees, we agreed to admit a number of those who had fled from Ukraine, principally as boarders, in September 2022. The development of the Anniversary Fund to pay for such places remains a high priority for us. We now also have a 501 c 3 entity in the US for alumni who would like to support us there. Further details may be found in the ‘Support us’ section of the magazine. We continue also to run booster camps for children in care and in foster homes throughout Hertfordshire in the Easter and Summer holidays, with consequent excellent relationships with this organisation.

Despite all that schools, and young people, have contended with in the last few years, we could reasonably conclude, as Frank Sinatra sang that “…it was a very good year!”

Richard Backhouse Principal