Prize Giving 2019

The College welcomed over 1000 guests on Friday 28 June to the school’s 60th Prize Giving ceremony. Guests included governors, staff, pupils, parents, members of the local community and friends of the College. This year, Shiplake was honoured to have Sir John Jones as the guest speaker. Knighted in 2003 for his services to education, he has worked most of his professional life in challenging schools across the North West of England.

Deputy Head Nick Brown started the event by welcoming everyone. He then introduced the Chairman of Governors, The Rt Hon. Tim Eggar who spoke not only about the academic successes of the year, but also the sporting achievements. This included his highlight; O Morgan and M Sharman being the first girls at Shiplake to win a Nationals' Schools Regatta medal. After talking about the Headmaster, Gregg Davies stepping down this year, he also spoke about how far Shiplake has come through Mr Davies’s leadership and how much he will be missed.

The Chairman's speech ended by inviting up on stage six of the Heads and Deputy Heads of College who had served Mr Davies during his 15 years. The portrait of the Headmaster which will be hung at the College was then unveiled. Chair of the Parents' Association, Erica Ferguson, and Year 13 parent Annie Caldeira, then presented Mr and Mrs Davies with gifts on behalf of the parents - a smaller version of the portrait, a bracelet and a voucher in the form of the 'gift of travel', which parents, governors, staff and Old Vikings had all contributed to, to enable them to enjoy the trip of a lifetime in their newly-found free time.

The Headmaster followed The Rt Hon. Tim Eggar and told attendees about three meaningful short stories: what he wouldn’t miss about Shiplake; what he would miss about Shiplake and his favourite parable, the tortoise and the hare - although a modernised version which looked at how while it's good to be slow and steady, it's better to be fast and reliable and even better to work as a team. After a standing ovation, Gregg Davies thanked the staff, parents and pupils for their support over the last 15 years.

Deputy Academic Head, Paul Jones, took over from the Headmaster and began announcing the names of the prize winners. Head of College for 2018-2019, Josh Howard, then took to the lectern and spoke confidently about how Shiplake has encouraged him to step out of his comfort zone (such as singing a duet with the Headmaster at Shiplake Rocks!) and helped create many memorable moments such as representing the College at Friday Night Lights and walking out on Front Field to bat.

Sir John Jones then gave an inspirational speech about getting involved in every aspect of school life, working hard, being kind and having no excuses. His words made a huge impact on everyone, but especially the 2019 College leavers. If you missed his speech, you can watch it here.