Taylorian 2020

18 Speeches Speech Day St Barnabas’ Day Speech 2020 W hat a strange year it has been. As those who know me can attest, I enjoy collecting strange and unusual words, often from other languages. This year, I have been introduced to a variety of less welcome words that I was previously unfamiliar with, or whose implications I had not fully understood: coronavirus; Microsoft Teams; COVID-19; Zoom; furlough; lockdown. And the familiar has been reinvented as well. In 2018, we honoured the centenary of the end of the First World War. On some windows of the school we placed a see-through plastic strip in which a ghostly image of a soldier was just visible, alongside the words, ‘There, but not there.’ The idea was that the fallen of the First World War were present in our thoughts, if not physically so. After March 20 th , lockdown was declared. The school emptied of children and staff, and all of our learning moved online. I now walk through the empty corridors and read that sign with new meaning. For the whole school community is indeed ‘There but not there.’ All of our teaching, all of our learning, all of our pastoral care, all of our extracurricular endeavour, all of our friendship, all that makes Merchant Taylors’ so unique is no longer visible, but is by no means gone. It crackles through our servers, over our Wi- Fi, and is transmitted: ‘...imprison’d in the viewless winds, and blown with restless violence round about the pendent world...’ It has been a year like no other, and my account of it resembles none that I have previously written. It has been a year of extraordinary success; of courage in the face of adversity; of resilience, ingenuity, determination and stubbornness. Our whole community has faced challenges we barely imagined, but in doing so we have grown stronger, learned what is best about ourselves, and found new paths when old ways were blocked. To meet the challenge of continuing to provide teaching, the staff have had to reskill themselves to deliver the normal curriculum by virtual means. This has required a significant amount of additional training and support, the mastery of a variety of new pieces of software and equipment and a rewrite of the schemes of workwhichwe deliver. It is hard to overstate the pressure that this has brought to bear upon the teaching staff. Any one of these different elements would normally have been introduced slowly over the course of a full school year. Instead, we have been required to deliver them all simultaneously, without any preparation. We have all had to master the inadvertently muted microphone, glitchy Wi-Fi connections and the awkwardness of teleconferences. The increase in workload has been immense and thedevotionof the staffhas been remarkable. The pupils have risen to the challenge as well. Their dedication to the continuance of their studies has been uplifting to see. It has also been heart-warming to learn of the telephone calls and online care that the tutors have given to their tutees in a time of anxiety. I must also give thanks to our tireless support staff. They have worked exceptionally hard to maintain the facilities and prepare the school for the return of the pupils, when that moment comes. Before we move to a review of the year, we must say farewell to a man who has done far more than most to shape our community. Chris Hare steps back this summer from his role as Chairman of Governors. He has served the school as a governor for twenty- six years, and has led the board for the last nine years. That is an extraordinary record of dedication and hard work; the school is immeasurably stronger for his efforts. Governance matters. That is why the good governance and outstanding leadership of governance which Chris has offered should be celebrated fully. I am so grateful for all that Chris has done; I and the entire school community are in his debt. It has been a privilege to work alongside him and see the school flourish. We welcome Duncan Eggar as the next Chairman, and wish him all success in the role. In a year in which we have all been forced to spend time indoors, let us begin with consideration of our outdoor activities. Our CCF is one of the largest and most active in the country. Indeed, at the last Inspection Day, the judgement was that perhaps only Eton could match us for the variety of opportunity we provide for our cadets. The cadets throw themselves into a huge range of different activities, both on Field Days and during Friday Parades. Sadly, after lockdown, a number of events could no longer take place. These included ceremonial parades: ANZAC Day & HMS Wildfire’s Annual Ceremonial Divisions, Inspection Day and the summer camp. In addition, we lost the chance to go white water rafting and parachuting. However, the cadets were determined not to finish the year on a despondent note, with no further CCF activity. Therefore, Friday Parade afternoons switched to remote CCF sessions. The remote sessions have been led by cadet Under Officer James Tillotson. These have been creative and innovative with individual and family challenges set every week. We have also added a number of Fast Track online learning modules in First Aid, Cyber Security and Advanced Field Leadership. Once again, we have seen enormous energy devoted to our Outdoor Education programme. Pupils engage with Outdoor Education in a variety of different ways. For some, their involvement is through a games option on Mondays and Wednesdays. For these boys, activities include kayaking, canoeing, sailing, and stand-up paddleboarding on the lake, climbing at HarroWall and mountain biking. They also have the option of shooting in the .22 range at school and the Close Combat Trainer at Northwood Headquarters. Other pupils enjoy Outdoor Education through the huge number of trips that we offer. During the weekends, we offered wakeboarding at Liquid Leisure, mountain biking at Swinley Forest, kayaking on the River Nene and a visit to the Whitewater Centre in the Nene Valley. Then there was the longer Ski Trip with 45 boys to Les Deux Alpes in February half-term with everyone from beginners to advanced skiers making great improvements. It was the second year that our pupils had competed against other