Ripon Cathedral Choir School

SPEECH DAY 12^TH July 2008

Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

In many ways January 2008 seems a long time ago and yet I have never known 6 months fly by quite so quickly.

I arrived, knowing very little about The Cathedral Choir School, but from my very first meeting with Richard Pepys I was launched into a steep learning curve. The Pepys’ were most helpful in furnishing me with as much information as I could take in and between us we endeavoured to manage as smooth a transition from one Head to another as we could.

Meeting the staff was my next major task, and I would like to thank them for the way they eased my path and assisted me in getting to know the workings of the school and all its complexities.

The children too, have been most patient. It has taken quite a while to learn all their names, but they have very politely accepted any mistakes I have made.

Both the children, the staff and you the parents seem to have coped well with the inevitable changes a new Head teacher brings. Whilst moving things forward, I have endeavoured to preserve the ethos and culture of the school, which I know are so highly valued.

Much has changed and will continue to change but the quality of the teaching has continued as before and I am delighted with the results of all of our internal and external examinations. For yet another year we can proudly boast of our Scholarships with 5 more names up on the scholarship board. Well done Edward, Liam, Hannah, Aloise, Charity. We have yet again had a 100% success rate at both 11+ and 13+ Common Entrance examinations, plus very good overall results in the SAT’s Tests which are well above the national average. Congratulations to all the children who took them. Also, thank you to all my teachers without whose hard work the children would not be able to achieve such good results.

Music and Drama, have as before played a major part in our annual calendar. Those of you who came to see the musical Oliver!, will I am sure agree that it was a magnificent performance. For a small school to put on such a major production is a challenge indeed, but one that I feel the children rose to amazingly well. Congratulations to Form 5,6,7and 8 and to Mrs Wood, Mrs Waring and Mr Smith and all the staff who lent a hand in perfecting the music, the set, the costumes and the props. Also to all you parents who no doubt assisted in the learning of the lines.

Less recently, though for me by no means forgotten, was the wonderful rendering of Dick Whittington by Forms 3& 4. I can honestly say I have never laughed so heartily throughout a school production before. I am sure we have some future stars in the making there and I look forward to their theatrical contributions next year.

Music workshops for the younger children, the annual piano competition, regular concerts both inside and outside school, together with such major events as the visit from Vovka Ashkenazy, has made our school music calendar one to be envied, particularly in a year when our government has been extolling the virtues of a musical education.

I am pleased to say that we have been able to share some of our good fortune with other schools. Children from Greystones Primary School came to the Ashkenazy Master Class and over 100 children from Holy Trinity Junior School and Richmond Primary School came to watch Oliver. We were delighted to welcome them and hope to further develop these relationships by establishing an outreach music programme in the future.

Sport is as always a major part of our teaching programme and the match fixtures have been many. Building teams from small classes is difficult, but our children always try their best and we have had some very pleasing results.

The girls have done especially well this year with Charity being selected for the County Hockey Squad and Natalie and Clara getting through to the finals of the National Prep Schools’ Athletic Championships in Birmingham. While amongst the boys Tom Graham and Angus Smith trialed for the North East Independent Schools Football Association Squad. Well done to all of them. It is such a shame that the Senior Sports had to be cancelled due to the rain – but these things happen and the children took it in good part.

Although our court was out of action for a long period tennis has not been over looked and many of the younger children have had tennis coaching and matches have been played and enjoyed. Several children were highly commended after trials at the tennis club, so we will have to watch out for them at Wimbledon in a year or two.

Book week was great fun and we were all most grateful to Philip Wells for sharing his poetry with us and for judging the annual poetry competition, so brilliantly won by Edward Beese.

To recognise and celebrate our Charity fund raising we were honoured by an RAF fly past – See our superb new website created by our technical genius and in house photographer Andras Sebestyen for the pictures of your children waving up to the plane.

The last few weeks have seen a whole array of residential and day trips and visits Geographical, Scientific, Historical, Archaeological, Horticultural plus many Sports related outings. I hope you have enjoyed the photographs in the Crier, all of which tell a tale of children enjoying themselves. I hope you will leave your copies out on coffee tables so that your friends and family can get a glimpse of life at our school – marketing always being on my mind!

The School Association excelled themselves when they organised not one but three events in the Marquee at the beginning of this term. It was a great deal of hard work for them, but enormously enjoyable for the rest of us. I thank them for their dedication to our school, the work they do particularly providing us with a bar at all our events and the funds they raise to help us pay for those ‘little’ and sometimes ‘big’ added extras

As the year comes to a close we do have to say some goodbyes, always difficult, but inevitable. Firstly, Year 8 Alex, Edward, Liam, Hannah, Hannah, Aloise and Charity –Congratulations on the hard work that has enabled you all to go to the school of your choice. We will miss you but wish you all a happy and successful transition to your senior school and do hope you will keep us posted as to your progress.

Secondly, Year 6 children who are moving on to the Grammar School, St Aidan’s, Bootham and Ashville - Ben, Sonia, Kim, Amaya, Melody, Ester, Charlie, Harry, Elizabeth, Grace and Tom, congratulations to you too for passing your exams so well – though we are very sorry to see such talent being passed on to other schools.

From the younger classes we also say good bye to Gawain from Form 3 and William and Grace from Foundation. We are incredibly sorry to see you go too, but our very best wishes go with you and we hope that you will keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on.

Last and certainly not least we must say goodbye to three members of staff and one Governor. Mrs Nina Harrison has been a governor of our school for 5 years and I would like to thank her for her service and also for a large amount of staff resource material which she has recently donated to us.

Mrs Gillian England has been our Latin teacher for the past year. Although her tenure has been short, she will be missed and we thank her none the less for her contribution.

Mrs Sue Ankcorn was retiring but is now going into semi-retirement, she has taught French for the past 12 years and has seen several year groups right through the school from Foundation to the culmination of their prep school education. Thank you Mrs Ankcorn we shall miss your co-operation, your enthusiasm and particularly the quiet way you have made yourself available to support anyone in need of assistance, be they children or staff - and if you are not too busy, we may well be calling on you once again if or should I say when we have an emergency staffing situation in the future – there is bound to be one!!

Finally, Mr Roger Taylor – after 33 years of commitment to this school you are, in the nicest possible way – part of the furniture. School will not be the same without you on the Sports field, in the classroom, the dining room and certainly not in Assembly where your singing has raised and encouraged the rest of us on a daily basis. Further behind the scenes you have supported the drama productions with your lighting skills. Also the way you have attended and supported almost every concert, production and performance has not gone unnoticed and has been much appreciated. Living nearby, I hope you will continue to feel welcome to attend any, indeed all of the performances that take place in the years to come, though I expect you will spend much of the coming years in sunnier climes than Yorkshire.

We held a retirement party in school last night during which Mr Taylor and Mrs Ankcorn were presented with these original paintings by Allan Matthews, towards which may of you contributed. Mr Talyor’s is the scene he views from the window of his house in Austria and Mrs Ankcorn’s a favourite place Gouthwaite and the motorbike you see in the front is a Norton. Very significant as her Grandfather was Mr Norton himself! So there is a claim to fame. Roger and Sue, I hope you enjoy your paintings and lest you should forget us Alex and Charity have a book of memories to present to you too……………………..PRESENTATION

September sees the start of yet another new year. Many of you may already be aware that Mr Atkinson has requested a change in his role in school. To enable him to concentrate on the children in the Boarding House he has decided to relinquish his Deputy Head duties from September. I wish to thank him for all that he has done, particularly in supporting me over the past two terms and look forward to him continuing as our very able House Master and History teacher.

I must mention how grateful I am to all the catering and domestic staff who look after us so well and last but by no means least Mrs Evans. Without her, this school would grind to a halt – she, as you know holds it all together and does a marvellous job in supporting us. Thank you Rachael. Mrs Allinson will be assisting Mrs Evens in the office next year and continuing in her newly created role as PR representative for the school – a job she is doing so well already being able to magic TV cameramen, newspaper photographers and occasional cherry picker out of nowhere and in a matter of minutes.

Mrs Evans asked me to remind you all to collect your report envelopes from the dining room at the end of today’s proceedings.

Now before I invite our guest to step forward. I would like to thank Charity our Head Girl and Alex our Head Boy for all their support and assistance during the year. They have done a marvellous job without fuss or commotion. Thank you both very much.

It is now my pleasure to welcome Mr Geoffrey Boult, Headmaster of Giggleswick. Giggleswick is a school with which I have had a long and happy association. Firstly as a pupil at Casterton where the highlight of our year was the annual dance with the Giggleswick boys ( though we had to have lessons in deportment and how to behave in male company before being allowed to step onto the dance floor) Secondly Giggleswick was a school favoured by the parents of my previous school and I made regular visits there and recently Mr Boult and I worked closely together as Governors of Ghyll Royd School. I now invite him to step forward to speak to you and then to present the prizes.

Mrs P Burton
headmistress