Report for the School 2008 to 2009

Click here is you wish to see the Annual Report for the Junior School

Speech Day address by the Head,Graham Wigley, at Friends and Families Day 9th May 2009

Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, pupils and staff, may I add my own welcome to this year’s Friends and Families Day.

Before I begin, I think you should know that this is Tony Watson’s fifth and final F & F Day as Clerk as he stands down in December. Tony is Friends’ School through and through as pupil, parent and grandparent as well as governor. I could not have asked for a more considerate or supportive Clerk over the past three years and I’d like to thank you not only on my behalf, but on behalf of everyone here today who is connected with the school in any way.

The context in which I present this year’s Head’s Address is a very different one from the one which existed last year, one in which economic and indeed, political, uncertainty fills media news reports, a world that has developed its own language as we look for ‘green shoots’ that mark the end of ‘credit crunch’, a world which, after years of affluence and growth has had rapidly to develop new management skills that are associated with contraction rather than expansion. Of course, the newspapers have been quick to sound what Band Aid referred to in another context as ‘the clanging chimes of doom’ for independent schools, schools which, ironically, are shining lights in the educational firmament.

Just as Mark Twain could write to the newspapers that, ‘Reports of my death are grossly exaggerated’, in the same way the Independent Schools Council released figures last week to counter the scaremongering, showing a healthy demand for Independent Schools, with a marginal increase in the numbers over all.

It is when, like this, I have to research statistics, that I am pleased that I do not have to memorise my speech. As the years pass, I find that my memory is not as reliable as it once was and so I was delighted to find myself sitting next to a man of very advanced years at a conference recently. We fell into conversation and he told me of a revolutionary new procedure that had the most wonderful effect which he claimed helped him to memorise important facts. He claimed that it was better than tricks such as word association or mnemonics or any other memory improvement technique previously employed.

What’s it called?’ I enquired.

‘What’s the name of that flower,’ he said, ‘that has a beautiful perfume, delicate petals, that has a long dark green stem and thorns on each side? The one that lovers send to each other.’

‘Do you mean a rose?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ that’s it,’ he said, turned to his wife who was sitting next to him and said, ‘Rose, what’s the name of that memory technique the doctor told me about?’

Despite the change in economic conditions, numbers at Friends’ School have held up well, with 400 pupils currently in the school; 157 in the Junior school and 243 in the seniors, up from the numbers with which we ended last year. Looking ahead, we have seen some evidence, not surprisingly, of parents with children at the school and parents looking to send their children here who are finding life tougher than before. There has been an increase in enquiries about bursary assistance and here I should pause and pay tribute to Bursar David Wood for the work he has done tactfully holding confidential financial conversations and discussions to ensure that our available bursary funds are distributed appropriately. As you are probably aware, all our bursaries are means-tested not only to ensure fairness, but also to satisfy the Charity Commission who quite rightly demand transparency so we can justify our charitable status. We are not a school that has the luxury of an endowment from which we can meet all bursary requests, rather we ensure the funds we do have are equitably targeted. In this respect I am grateful to the Religious Society of Friends who augment the school’s own bursary fund through the Joint Bursary Scheme. We are however, undoubtedly fighting an uphill battle, and we are likely to be doing so for a number of years before the affluence and confidence of former times returns, but we are committed to keeping the school accessible to as wide a range of individuals as possible.

Thanks to rigorous management accounting by David Wood and our Assistant Bursar, Abi Portway, supported by expertise on the governing body, we are in good shape, though we need to be able to call on all sections of the school community to support us and our ambitious plans (and here I do not mean any proposed site development). You, our parents, are hugely influential in shaping the view that the wider community has of the school; a significant number of visitors tell me of recommendations from neighbours or work colleagues that bring them to Friends’ and this advocacy, conducted by you, is tremendously important. I sincerely hope that, as all sectors of education see constraints put on their budgets (as they surely will), that you continue to share your experience of the school. Last year we were tremendously buoyed by the ISI inspection report, a report that gave great encouragement to us to continue down our current path of providing excellent pastoral support and building further on the already very good quality of teaching and learning. We continue to emphasise high expectations in all areas of school life and I am pleased to hear from prospective parents who meet with me that the message is beginning to spread beyond the school gates.

I would like to emphasise that parental involvement is important to Friends’; please do come back next Saturday to enjoy the fun and arguments that always make a great Quiz Night (members of the PTA committee will be nabbing you today). My thanks to the PTA for their work throughout the year and to those who have also worked tirelessly organising our forthcoming Midsummer Night’s Ball; fundraising makes the icing on the cake even thicker and, of course, benefits our pupils, your children, directly.

It isn’t only parents who form our wider community; I am delighted to welcome Caroline Longstreet, the Old Scholars’ Association President, who has been a tremendous supporter of the school this year. I look forward to joining the Old Scholars for their re-union dinner in the school dining room later this evening. As with the parent body, Old Scholars of all ages have an immense amount to offer in supporting the school, for instance through providing work experience opportunities or interview practice for our pupils..

Always significant among our guests are representatives from local Quaker meetings. Thank you, too, for the support and encouragement that you provide and the interest that you take in seeing the school flourish. Although in real terms the number of Quaker children and families at the school is low, it is well worth remembering that now and during its history the school has introduced and promoted Quaker values to thousands of people (pupils and parents) who might otherwise have not encountered them.

A speaker at a major education conference in Brighton that I attended last week said, ‘What you independent school Heads need to remember is that really your schools are like corner shops. You need to join together.’ Once I’d stopped thinking of myself as Ronnie Barker in ‘Open All Hours’ wearing a brown overall and working out who my equivalent of ‘G ..G…G Granville might be, I realised that there is something in this.

We can’t hope to compete with the equivalent of the edge-of-town Tesco on price or size, we don’t offer the same range of soap powder, detergent or cereal, but we do offer a highly specialised personal service. This isn’t do-it-yourself education, where you can, like Tesco, pass through, pick what you want off the shelf, check yourself out and be on your way without ever having to be known by or utter a word to anyone. At Friends’ it is important that you, or more particularly, your children, receive the personal service that fits their needs, where time and attention is invested, where there is dialogue and follow-up, and care and, I should add, a sense of pride at meeting, to keep the analogy going, the customer’s needs. We will be hearing from some of those ‘customers’ in just a little while.

Of course, it is important to make sure that parents and children who visit the school to see if it’s the right school for them, gain a favourable, though fair impression. Such visits usually pass off without too much incident, though sometimes it is the visitors themselves who don’t quite get it right or cover themselves in glory. Earlier in the year I sent visitors off on a tour of the school. I later found the boy, a prospective Year 7, by himself half way down the Avenue.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked.

‘I’ve last my dad,’ he said.

‘Oh dear,’ I said. ‘What’s he like?’

‘Beer and women!’ came the reply.

Friends’ School doesn’t stand alone, corner-shop-like. We are part of larger associations such as the Independent Schools Council. We are also part of SHMIS, the Society for Heads of Independent Schools and of Friends School Council, a fellowship of the seven Quaker schools in England, but which also embraces the two Irish Quaker schools. It is for that reason that I am delighted that John Dunston, a former Chairman of SHMIS and currently Head of the Quaker School at Leighton Park, is able to join us today.

Some of our pupils are on the threshold of an exciting future, which is the cue for me to invite Ailidh, Reggie, Daisy and Joe (last year’s Quartet) to say their goodbyes.

Good morning.

It was an absolute pleasure to be a member of the Quartet and of course it is also an honour to be able to stand here today and make this speech. There are a lot of memories from Friends’ School, and if I had the time I really would like to share with you all these memories. Obviously I don’t have that much time so I have decided to quickly share with you my experience at Friends’.

Quite often people ask me how I felt on my first day of school, and my answer is ‘indescribable’. It was and it is still difficult for me to find a word to describe that day. I was new to the school, new to the country, new to the culture and more importantly new to the language, English. I am sure most of you here today have been to places where the official language is not your first language. For those who have this kind of experience, you might find it easier to understand how I actually felt on my first day of school.

One of the things that I liked the most about this school at that time was actually the name of the school. Friends’ School, what an easy school name to pronounce even though I was so bad at English! I thought yes, Friends’ School is a good school! It was certainly a lot better than my previous school in Hong Kong as it took me two years to say the full name of the school, which was Queen Elizabeth School Old Student Association Secondary School, what a mouthful!

Due to my lack of English at that time, it always took me a lot longer to complete the prep compared to other English students. I remember once I really wanted to give up and not do the prep, I even thought about giving up studying in England and tried to convince my mother to let me go back to Hong Kong, but then I said to myself, if these people can do the prep without much trouble, why can’t I? There is nothing which makes us different, if they could do it, I could do it too. This attitude took me through my GCSEs and I managed to achieve grades that I thought were excellent, and then of course I stayed for A-levels.

At the beginning of A-levels, it was tough because I found the work a lot harder especially in Maths. Steven Staerck, my personal tutor, is the person I have to say thank you to, you are the second member of staff who I have cried in front of.

When I found out I was going to be a member of the Quartet, I didn’t know how to react to it. But there was one person I immediately phoned, and that was Michelle Gillmore. She used to work in the ESOL department in the school and she taught me English for 3 years. I remember after the phone call with her, I cried for about half an hour because I believed that without her, I probably wouldn’t have been awarded this honour.

Before I finish this speech, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to various people. Thank you everyone for giving me the chance to become a member of the Quartet and serve the school. Thank you for the other three Quartet, it was a pleasure to work with you all and I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you especially for Sarah Joseph for having confidence in me to help her out in International Evenings; Catherine Whyte from the Food Tech. department helping me to become now the master chef in my house; Barbara Askew for buying a lot of mince pies for me to eat at Christmas, I think my record was 24 mince pies in one day; and the catering and cleaning staff who have been absolutely delightful. Overall I want to say thank you to all the teachers who have taught me or helped me in any way.

Throughout the last 5 years at Friends’, especially the past year and a half, the school has allowed me to grow with confidence and independence. Now I am ready to leave here and continue my studies at university in Hong Kong in Business and Management.

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy the rest of the day.

Thank you!

Reggie Chong

I heard a story once about a man who jumped into a river to save some people who were drowning. When he got out, having rescued all of those in trouble he was so elated he sat down to write his thoughts... and then died of hypothermia in his wet clothes, however his story inspired others who went on in their turn to change people‘s lives. I have often, slightly morbidly, thought Friends' was like this. Irrational, unruly, utterly without logic but passionate, beyond all else, utterly passionate about what they have set out to do.
I came from two schools where being conventional was the key to success and the man would have dried himself thoroughly and let his thoughts fade into the ether rather than scribbling them feverishly down. I think as a young child I enjoyed this normality, wanted to be the same as every other person in my school.

I started off at a Senior school near here, Kings School Ely. From the first day into the first week I realised that it wasn’t somewhere I wanted to be. It was somewhere where if you didn’t excel at something you would be taught by less experienced teachers, and if you weren’t good at games you would run around with a bean bag on your head in the sports hall rather than playing a team game!

Out of desperation, my parents looked and eventually found Friends' School. The whole family was uprooted and moved to Saffron Walden. I was extremely nervous, expecting something the same as Kings School, but immediately there were differences… yes it wasn’t quite as shiny, but there was something more open, more, ironically, ‘ friendly’ about it. It has so many merits that make it stand out from others. A friend who left at the end of year 11 once said to me, ‘ my new school is really good, but the teachers here never talk to you outside class.’ Well at Friends' you can’t get rid of them!
A part of the school which makes it stand out and which has hugely affected me is its Quaker ethos. I am sure it must be, and was for me, hugely confusing the first silent assembly you sit through, when anyone who feels they have something to say can stand up and say it. One of the most memorable times I have had here is the Quaker pilgrimage that I went on last year. In this four people from the sixth form travelled down to the Lake district, meeting up with students and teachers from other Quaker schools. You are thrown together in incredibly beautiful surroundings; in the very place that Quakerism began. I found it very hard to come back and explain to people what it had felt like; how moving and intense an experience it had been. But I have recently started going to meetings at the Meeting House down in town, and it is, I think, perhaps what ultimately makes this school so special, its staff and pupils such open, friendly and accepting people.

There is a huge list of people I would like to thank, Serena O’Connor and Phil Richardson for inspiring me in art, JSB for the insights of his unique view of the world , Graham Wiggly for always being there and for his jokes in time of stress, Biddy Fisher-Vousden for all the conversations and for teaching me to think outside of the box. And everybody in my year, who have known and coped with me for seven years. My final person needs a special mention. It is no exaggeration that most of the Quartet speeches I have listened to have mentioned this person, and whether that is because to be in the quartet a large proportion of people have to be dramatically inclined to survive it or that he truly is a magnificent teacher, friend and mentor. Richard Smith is a huge part of the massive heart that this school has beneath its creaking exterior, and I will forever be thankful for the laughs, the drama lessons and the conversations we have shared. A quick shout out to my junior drama group, you are the nosiest people I have ever met and I wish you all the best of luck. Finally thank you to my fellow Quartet, in the infinitely wise words of one of us, it's been awesome.

I cannot quite believe I am old enough to leave; but feel I am ready, that I have grown out of Friends. I am 19 this year which, to me, does not quite feel real but I know that when the exams end and I leave school for the last time I will be ready for it. I will hopefully be going on to Lancaster to study English Literature and Creative writing.

Thank you all for listening.

Daisy Johnson

Good Morning,

When I was little, before I started in year 7, I used to visit the school and attend certain events here, as my family have a history at the school. There was always an essence of welcome that I could capture, and it was a place I looked forward to coming to. Many years later, and after many feet of growing, the feeling remains unchanged. There is a certain spirit the school holds which has been touched upon in every other speech that I have been awake to hear on this day. It blossoms partly from the Quaker ethos but largely from the people within it. You could think of it as a rainforest.

There are shrubs, vines and trees. Sometimes it’s raining, sunny or both, but it is always warm. There are tree snails, butterflies, things that can walk, creep, squirm and fly, but they all benefit for being in the rainforest, because of its unique climate. Now we are not situated in South America, and we are not selling land for huge sums of money for deforestation to oil companies; however the School Development plans may look. But our School is a unique climate. Being in the Quartet I have tried to be as approachable as can be and take interest in the lower school just as the Quartets of the past did to me.

One of my favourite parts of the school is the diversity of the students here and as a result how my friends here are spread far and wide across the world. I have learnt a lot about different cultures, learning to swear in 9 different languages, and think a tremendous amount of people who travel to a different country to study, which is why I have even more respect for Reggie for doing everything he has done. I cannot imagine doing in China what he has done here.

During my time here I have developed academically. The independence the school has allowed me, comes across in the way I work and I am motivated to work hard. This year for A level I am studying Maths, Further Maths and Physics and have accepted an offer to Bristol university to study Maths next year. Despite this narrow sounding subject choice, the arty side of the school has helped me also with a love of art blossoming from 4 years of being taught by Serena O Connor and I am working towards my grade 8 drum exam this summer with my drum teacher since the age of 10, Steve Hynes.

In my time at the school and especially in the sixth form I have formed extremely good relationships with many teachers, none more so than with Nick Batcheler. He has been my mentor for the past couple of years and has always supported me fully, but quietly, and never made a fuss about anything, a truly kind person in this respect. I would like to thank Graham Wigley for being a pleasure to work with and for his care towards the quartet as individuals as well as the School as a whole.

These speeches would not be the same without mentioning Martin Hugall. Only after becoming a member of the Quartet have I realised how instrumental he is to everyday life at the school and am certain that the place will be very different without him. No one knows their way around the Friends' School website quite like him. If I began to mention all the friends that have meant so much to me, in my Friends' School journey, in this hall, it would take far too long but you all know who you are and I believe I am the product of all the happiness and laughter I have shared with you all.

Finally I would like to give my thanks to Ailidh, Daisy and Reggie, I couldn’t think of three more different, supportive, wonderful people to work with and I wish the best of luck to next year's Quartet.

The school has changed tremendously in the seven years I have been here. I hope it continues to value what it has in my time here. I hope that it continues to grow but carefully and in the right directions. I hope it gets people thinking and makes people more aware of the world when they leave than when they entered. Most of my time at Friends' has been with a smile on my face, and I hope to continue in life with that.

I will leave you today with this quote “Each day is a new canvas to paint upon. Make sure your picture is full of life and happiness, and at the end of the day you don't look at it and wish you had painted something different.”

Thank you.

Joe Bloomfield

I first started Friend’s school in 2003. I originally came from a school were I was very unhappy and I had hardly any confidence in my ability as a person. The six years I have been at Friends' my confidence has improved considerably, and now I happy to be myself and made friends that will be important to me forever.

The people who know me will tell you I veer towards the arts and I love subjects such as drama, photography and music. General knowledge is not my strong point and I sometimes don’t get the exact gist of things for instance during a serious conversation about the fascist dictator in Cambodia, Poll Pot, in a drama lesson, I thought we were talking about Paul Potts who won Britain’s got talent and piped up saying “I really like him”. I have also never been allowed by my friends to forget the time when I thought in Year 8 that the Titanic sank in the Thames but now I know it sank in the Pacific… Atlantic.

So you can imagine when I got asked by Graham Wigley if I would like to be in the Quartet I thought he couldn’t possibly be serious but he said he was and when I finally stopped hyperventilating, I was really honoured to take on the role. Of course I hit a few speed bumps along the way, as anyone does, but I can at least say that I have never fallen over when walking up to the front in assembly, which I probably shouldn’t have said when I still have got to walk down from here.

I tried to do my best, to be approachable, and to make things as fun as possible whether it was standing up in assembly in a crazy outfit on non-uniform day or calling everything awesome and fab. It was a really worthwhile experience and I hope I achieved everything I set out to do.

Another big thing that Friends' school has done for me is that it has given me independence and a huge respect for and understanding of so many other cultures. In the 6th form I decided to board. At first it was very daunting but I soon understood the ethos of the boarding house; it’s not like school because more than friends, we are family. I am even going to China to visit my roommate this summer; this is an opportunity that I might never have had had I not been boarding at this school. And for that I thank all boarding staff and everyone in Croydon House for always being there for me and making it a second home.

I am leaving school in a few weeks and there are some huge changes ahead of me. My family and I am moving to Gibraltar, which I think will be an amazing adventure. I would like to thank my parents for always being there for me every step of the way. It has always been the three of us and they have done so much for me thank you so much.

I would like to say some other thank you’s.

To Mrs Joseph you have helped me through so much in my years in the sixth form as my form teacher and tutor. I know I can be a tad panicky but you have always pointed me in the right direction.

Another huge thank you to Richard Smith or ‘Smithy’ as he is more commonly known. Thank you for putting up with my random comments, giving me a passion in life and teaching me to always be myself.

And finally one of the biggest thank yous goes to Christine Sleight who has been there for me since Year 8. I went through some really difficult times at the beginning with health scares and crises of confidence, and you always gave me the strength to fight on and push forward, and for that I cannot thank you enough, but maybe I can treat you to a coffee in Cambridge from time to time.

I am hopefully going on to study drama at Anglia Ruskin University in September. I wont be far away and I will definitely be coming back to visit so you wont be getting rid of me just yet.

Good luck to everyone in the school in the future and to the new quartet I hope you all have as much fun as I have had.

Thank you

Ailidh Ross

.............

Graham Wigley continues...

Thank you all; a well deserved round of applause. They really have been a wonderful Quartet and are exactly what they appear to be: four very different individuals who came together to be an exceptional team.

Once again, I would like to thank my colleagues publicly for their hard work and professionalism over the past year. Inevitably, however, there are some changes in the line-up. ‘Gappies’ Dimitri and Kirah left us at Christmas though we were delighted in the New Year to welcome Dell and Jack who are doing an equally excellent job, particularly in ‘Boarding’. Rosie Holt, who has been working with us in the Study Centre, leaves us at the end of the month to make the short journey to Cambridge where she will work as a research assistant, joining an eminent team looking into aspects of autism.

After ten years as Head of Year 7, Alison Ainsworth is stepping down from that role, a role that she has fulfilled by demonstrating care and concern for her charges, tempering this with some straight talking when it was needed. Peter Fasching will replace her as Head of Year 7 from September. Richard Moss is relinquishing responsibility as Head of Years 10 and 11 and another Richard, Richard Smith, has been appointed in his place.

After six years at Friends’, Will Mullen leaves us at the end of term. Will has worked selflessly as Assistant Head (Curriculum) particularly on the timetable, making sense of the complexities of GCSE and A level options besides masterminding the introduction of our computer-based information management system. We are going to miss him. Will has been grinning like a Cheshire cat all week as his beloved Birmingham City secured promotion to the Premier League last Sunday, by beating close rivals Reading, who, by a delicious coincidence, are the team equally avidly supported by today’s guest speaker!

Of course there is one person who is leaving at the end of term who really deserves a ‘Friends and Families Day’ all to himself. Martin Hugall has given to Friends’ School thirty seven years of selfless, dedicated service. When he joined the school in September 1972 as a young biology graduate, I wonder if Martin realised how important Friends’ would become for him or, more particularly, how important Martin would become for Friends’. There is hardly an area of school life that hasn’t benefited from Martin’s interest and dedication.

In his letter offering Martin the job, the Head at the time, John Woods wrote, ‘I wish you a happy association with the school.’ I wonder, too, whether he realised that it would last for at least 37 years? I’ve tried hard to imagine Martin as a young man taking up his first teaching post in the UK after a year of voluntary service in Nigeria. His reference written in support of his application to Friends’ by his university tutor says, intriguingly, ‘He has been in many ways an unusual student’ (I wonder why?) but he was noted for his ‘assurance, competence and a slow smile’. Another referee noted ‘an inner spark and a nice sense of humour’ something that we have all seen and enjoyed many times since.

By 1975 Martin was well settled at Friends’ and was branching out, representing the school on Uttlesford’s ‘Road Safety’ panel – a love of Health and Safety issues that Martin has nurtured to this day – as the sixth form reminded us in their review last Christmas. Intriguingly, I’ve also come across a note in Martin’s handwriting reporting loss, probably theft, from the biology lab itemising for the police that missing were: 2 male and 1 female rat (white), 3 dozen assorted mice and 1 salamander after which, showing a characteristic eye for detail, Martin has written ‘dead’.

Martin ran the motor club (we’ve seen the evidence on film in Assembly) – in black and white! He took numerous school camping expeditions overseas, created the Hugall pond and completely redesigned the junior biology lab. Most schools have a School Council these days, but Martin started ours, a Council that has been running for well over 30 years and if Martin has missed more than a couple of meetings, I’d be surprised. His passion for photography has meant that whole swathes of school life are recorded and, of course, he has been the mastermind behind our excellent website. In addition to all this he has an encyclopaedic knowledge of former pupils and has been a major point of reference for the Old Scholars’ Association.

As all ambitious young schoolmasters do, Martin flirted with the idea of moving to another school to broaden his experience and gain promotion, but thank goodness the lure of Friends’ proved to be too strong. Promotion – well deserved – in the end came from within as John Woods appointed Martin Senior Member of Staff in 1986, then Deputy Head in 1988. Heads came and went, with Sarah Evans taking over to be succeeded by Jane Laing, then Andy Waters and then me. Through all this Martin Hugall has been a constant.

Knowledgeable, utterly reliable, supportive of colleagues and pupils alike, tremendously hard working but most of all a genuinely caring man – Martin is a real schoolmaster in the very best sense of the word.

Not surprisingly, it is going to take two people to replace him. We are looking forward to welcoming Anna Chaudhri as Deputy Head in September and Joanne Walton who will take over as Head of Biology.

Martin, you are a tough act to follow. Thankfully, you will still be helping us to run the website next year, but until then, and while, I am sure, everyone gives you the applause you so richly deserve, please come and receive this cheque which is made up of contributions towards a retiring present from parents and Old Scholars.

Graham Wigley
9 May 2008