Thursday 29 June was the final day of term and the date set for the College’s 2017 speech day and prize giving event. Along with pupils, teachers and support staff, the event was attended by many proud parents and family members of pupils, who were all warmly welcomed by our Sixth Form prefects on arrival. While waiting for everyone to be seated, the audience was kept entertained by music performed by Marcus Bagshawe and Quin Wagner-Piggott.
Deputy Headmaster Mr Nick Brown opened proceedings by welcoming those in attendance and introduced the Chairman of Governors, The Rt. Hon. Tim Eggar. Tim passionately reminded everyone just how proud they should feel to be associated with Shiplake College and how much it has achieved in such a short history. Tim was followed by the Headmaster, who highlighted to the pupils leaving the College and continuing at Shiplake the importance of honesty. The Headmaster also stressed the importance of pupils to question their peers’ decisions if they feel they are wrong, and although it may not feel like the right thing to do or be easy at the time, it will benefit everybody involved in the future.
It was then time for the presentation of prizes, announced by Deputy Headmaster, Dr Gareth Hughes. The presentation began with form prizes for Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 followed by GCSE prizes and, new this year, the Shiplake 7 awards. Daniel Anstey, James Gibbs and Joseph Ruffle all received two GCSE prizes and Alfie Sheppard received the GSCE Results Prize for his performance in the previous year’s examinations. It was then onto the Governors’ Prizes with Teodora Dinescu, Maddie Chapples and Emily Duncan all receiving multiple subject prizes and 2016 leaver Edward Warren receiving the A Level Results Prize. The Special Awards and Senior Common Room Prizes were then announced followed by a reminder of blazer and blazer badges that had been awarded during the year for excellence in sport, music, art and drama. The presentation was then rounded off with the Headmaster’s Prizes.
Next, Emily Wilkinson took to the stage for her final speech as the Head of College at Shiplake. Emily reflected on what had been an incredibly successful two years for her at the College, and how having the honour of being the Head of College was an incredible experience and has really helped her to develop as a person. It was then Emily’s duty to announce next year’s Head of College Will Bailey and next year’s Deputy Head of College Olivia Bartlett.
Following this, there was a talk from our guest speaker, Jamie McDonald. Jamie spent the first nine years of his life in and out of hospital with a rare spinal condition known as syringomyelia. Combined with a very weak immune system and epilepsy, Jamie’s health was very poor. He was treated at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London. At nine years old, the symptoms eased, something Jamie attributes to an effort to become more active. Jamie worked as a tennis instructor to save up for a deposit for a house. However, rather than buying a house, Jamie made the decision to give back to the hospitals that supported him. Whilst encouraging audience participation, Jamie told his emotional story about how he became the first person in history to finish the historic 5,000 mile journey across Canada. There was barely a dry eye in the room as Jamie encouraged everyone to go out and find the superhero within them.
Head of Burr House, Matthew Godwin, followed on from Jamie. Matthew told his very own story about how he found his inner superhero when he ran seven marathons in seven days raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. With everyone in the marquee feeling truly inspired it was onto the front field to enjoy canapés and refreshments.
It was a great event to round off another brilliant year for the College. We wish our leavers the very best of luck in the future and hope you will all stay in touch. For all continuing pupils and parents: we hope you have a relaxing summer break and very much look forward to seeing you all again in September.