A year in the life of the School and message from the Head Master Stuart McPherson

A year in the life of the School

Boys in Farwell House took part in a carol-a-thon in aid of the Russ Strauss Foundation

Lord Spencer arrived by helicopter to cut the ribbon for the official opening of the Spencer Building, the school’s new Sixth Form centre and library

Worth boys were triumphant at the local Youth Enterprise Awards

Ayear which began tentatively ended in celebration and hope for Worth with the continued growth of the School, both in terms of pupil numbers and the opening of new facilities such as the Spencer Building. Other major highlights included the Scholar Cantorum singing Mass in Westminster Cathedral, the fabulous Diamond Ball and the Senior Debating Society winning a national competition.

The mood at the end of the school year was certainly very different to when it started. In the autumn of 2021, there was optimism as the world continued to emerge from the pandemic but there were still “challenges swirling around”, as Head Master Stuart McPherson described it, with COVID refusing to be shrugged off one’s back. In the Autumn Term some events were still being cancelled, such as the Christmas Market, and others were adapted to satisfy a sense of caution, which was a legacy of the past 18 months. By the Lent Term, it really began to feel like school life was back to normal and by the Summer Term there was so much good news to focus on that previous

A year in the life of the School continued

The Diamond Ball on the eve of Speech Day was an evening to remember

The Senior School production of Grease provided fantastic entertainment. Students had been taught how to hand jive by a visiting West End actor

concerns were pigeon-holed away. Of course, COVID is still with us and will continue to provide a challenge to everyday life, but the feeling is that Worth School not only survived the worst the pandemic had to offer but came out the other side flourishing. Indeed, record numbers for the 2021-22 academic year had grown further by the time 2022-23 began.

For now, though, let’s step back to the autumn of 2021, when excellent A Level and GCSE results set the perfect tone for the year to follow. While results were based on centre assessed grades rather than public examinations, Worth exceeded expectations and that celebratory feel was carried into the start of term. Worth Week has now become a tradition at the School, offering a range of experiences and activities for pupils to undertake together rather than going straight into academic lessons. The opening weeks of the term also included closed weekend activities for boarders, a New Parents’ Supper hosted by the Friends of Worth and a Year 12 Matriculation Ball, which was something new for Worth.

October arrived with a visit from West End actor Matthew Goodgame who came in to teach the cast of Grease how to hand jive ahead of the Drama department’s December production. Black History Month was celebrated with an incredibly poignant whole school assembly when four students spoke powerfully and eloquently, the Whitehead Room swayed to the wonderful tunes of a Scholars Concert which was Worth’s first concert in front of an audience since March 2020 and the first part of the House Music competition provided a lighter side to music at Worth.

The School’s charitable efforts stepped up again, with Rutherford House supporting the Movember campaign while the School’s support for Mary’s Meals and Justice Defenders continued with a variety of initiatives. Another highlight in November was being named in The Cricketer magazine’s 100 top schools for cricket for a fourth year in a row while the growth of Worth’s equestrian team was another reason to celebrate.

The Senior School production of Grease across four nights in the Performing Arts Centre, was outstanding. Butler boys ran a school-wide food bank initiative to support a charity in Crawley, Farwell boys organised a Christmas carol-a-thon and the 2nd XV rugby team finished the season with a remarkable record of eight wins from eight. The School Carol Service was moved to the Thursday night at the end of term, which was a joyous way to sign off for Christmas.

A new Director of Mission, Dan Harris, was in place for the start of 2022, tasked with continuing the excellent work of the Mission Team. The Debating Society’s growing reputation was enhanced by competing admirably in the Oxford Schools’ Debating Competition reaching and winning the national final of the Ethics Cup, while the House Debating Cup involved all 10 Houses and was of a quality not seen before. Enrichment continued with a Strings Masterclass with a visiting ensemble, an Oxbridge talk with the Head Master and a Valentine’s Dinner for Year 13, sponsored by Worth Society. The term also saw

The Scholar Cantorum had the great honour of singing Mass at Westminster Cathedral

Boys in Butler House ran a food bank appeal to help the St Vincent de Paul Society, a charity in Crawley which reaches out to those in need in the area Drama scholars performed the classic Greek tragedy Medea in the Performing Arts Centre

A Matriculation Ball in September welcomed the new Year 12 cohort into the Sixth Form

the senior prefects leading an appeal for humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine on behalf of the whole Worth community and the Drama department put on Peter Pan as the junior production for the year. On the sporting front, the U15 rugby boys produced a dominant display to win the Sussex Cup, beating Hurst College in the final, the U14 rugby boys won the Sussex Sevens, the U16s reached the Sussex Cup semi-final and the rugby girls performed extremely well on their first appearance at the nationals.

The keys were handed over for the Spencer Building, the School’s fabulous new Sixth Form Centre and library which was an extraordinary gift from former pupil Michael, Lord Spencer of Alresford B’73. Also in the Lent Term, a fantastic new indoor golf facility was opened, having been paid for through the Annual Fund. The Summer Term therefore began with the official opening of the Spencer Building, with Lord Spencer arriving by helicopter for the special day where he joined an array of invited guests.

The term felt short but was as busy as the School had been for two years. Among the highlights were the Worth Musician of the Year final, House Bands – the second part of House Music – a Drama Scholars’ production of Medea, pupil-led conferences for our youngest pupils which were a new initiative, the School’s first ever dog show which was organised by a group of Sixth Form students, a masterclass with Hollywood actor Deep Roy, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions and a typically beautiful Confirmation service. The week leading up to Speech Day

One of the highlights of the year was the Debating Society winning the Ethics Cup, a national competition

A year in the life of the School continued

The inter-House tug-of-war competition provided particular fun during Worth Week, which has become a traditional way to begin the academic year at Worth

The U15A rugby boys beating Hurst College to win the Sussex Cup was just one of a number of sporting highlights during the academic year

returned to how it had been pre-pandemic with a sports dinner, sports day and a summer concert before Speech Day itself. Adding into that mix was a fabulous Diamond Ball on the eve of Speech Day which was an occasion which will be fondly remembered by all those present.

The verve was back in Worth, perhaps more so than before as people enjoyed that returning sense of normality, and it was further enhanced by various successes. On the sporting front, the senior golf team beat Brighton College to reach the HMC Foursomes Regional Final and two 1st XI cricketers set a new school record partnership of 300. A group of Butler boys won the ‘Best Marketing’ category at a local Youth Enterprise Awards ceremony and the Debating Society team won the Rotary Club Youth Debate Senior final. Perhaps the best of the lot also came from the Debating Society as they won the Ethics Cup, a national debating competition held at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

A 50 Year Reunion on campus served to highlight the strong bonds which Old Worthians have with the School and we also welcomed back the Class of 2020 for a leavers’ reception which had not been able to take place two years earlier due to the pandemic.

As the bell rang to mark the end of the academic year, the sense of euphoria continued. A Year 13 Leavers’ Ball was a splendid evening and the Schola Cantorum performed wonderfully after accepting an invitation to sing Mass at Westminster Cathedral. There was also still time for Worth to collect a Sussex Heritage Award for the new Spencer Building while work began on converting the old library to new classrooms on the top level of the teaching block to help with the growth in numbers.

Worth School was back in all its splendour, full of cheer and offering great hope for the future as the door was firmly closed on the dark days of the pandemic.

A Message from the Head Master

Once COVID started to take a back seat towards the end of the Autumn Term, the 2021-22 school year took on something of a resurgent feeling. At the time, letting the annual School Carol Service go ahead on the last night of term seemed like a bit of a risk, but everyone in the congregation, which filled the Abbey Church for the first time in ages, judged it to be a risk worth taking. Having a major new building project in the heart of the campus helped that sense of renewal after a long period of disruption, but it could be found elsewhere too - most surprisingly, perhaps, in the roof-lifting hymn singing that became a feature of Wednesday Worship in the Abbey Church and has remained so. An undefeated 2nd XV rugby team was another symptom of the new energy that could be found across the co-curricular, along with the excellent production of Medea in the Summer Term, and some outstanding musical events – the orchestral concert was the best and most uplifting I have experienced at Worth, as was the exhibition of GCSE, A Level and IB art and photography.

The Spencer Building, which opened in April, had an immediate impact on school life. Arriving as it did in exam preparation time, it gave the Sixth Form a bestin-class independent study environment and excellent spaces for collaborative work. At least as important as the physical environment and its beauty is the message of confidence the new building sent to Worth pupils, and it was wonderful to see that effect on the daily life of the School. The Spencer Building has opened up a beautiful new space in the heart of the campus around which we are planning further development in the coming years.

One such new development is the repurposing of the library located at the top floor of the Classroom Block (recently renamed St Scholastica’s Building). Towards the end of the year work began on transforming that space into new classrooms. The creation of large, dormer windows has given these new rooms incredible views to the South for the Maths and English classes that will be located there. This year also saw change in the Mission Team, with Will Desmond C’09 leaving his role as Director of Mission after seven inspirational years to join the Cor et Lumen Christi community with his family in Cumbria. Dan Harris, the new Director of Mission, continues Will’s work to maintain the firm Catholic and Benedictine foundation on which so much at Worth rests.

As ever, the School enjoys a close and very important association with the monastery. We regularly join with the monks for Mass on significant feast days, and the boarders’ 8pm Sunday Mass is celebrated by monks on a rota, which has proved to be an excellent way for the boarders to get to know individual members of the monastic community. As anyone who has ever attended the Conventual Mass on a Wednesday will know, the monastic community always offers that day’s Mass for Worth School and all who work and learn here, which includes all former staff, pupils and parents.

Worth ended the year in very good health, and with exciting plans for the future. I hope you find in this edition of The Blue Paper evidence enough of all the good things going on at your old school.

Stuart McPherson

Speech Day