Headmaster’s Foreword

Simon Williams Headmaster’s Foreword

Until recently I had always associated 2020 with a measure of perfect vision, or the suggestion of an ideal scenario, but, following this year, the expression will forever have a very different connotation. When the academic year 2019-20 began no one could, or would, have predicted how it would end, or the remarkable lengths to which people have gone to make things work under very trying and, in many cases, tragic circumstances.

In a year when the horrors of racial injustice and discrimination have also come to the fore, it seems entirely appropriate to quote Martin Luther King Jr when he said: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Nothing worthwhile is easy. Your ability to overcome unfavourable situations will provide you with time to demonstrate your true strength and determination for success. Always set your standards high, your greatest achievements lie within the infinite feats you achieve in your life.” Whether it is the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement or the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an enormous challenge for all this year and, when it comes to ultimate measure, the students at Churcher’s certainly have much to their credit.

The subsequent pages of this Churcherian magazine will evidence how and where Churcherians have ‘stepped-up-to-the-plate’ but, as a simple foreword to this chronicle of an academic year, it is worth noting how stoic all have been; how inventive, adaptable and inspirational both adults and children associated with the school have proved to be.

With almost no notice the school closed with one week left of the Spring Term. The school went from 90% analogue to 100% digital overnight. In ordinary times, introducing a brand new, untried IT system across a large organisation brings months of chaos and frustration, but, somehow, we transformed the school’s ‘output’ and the children adapted their ‘input’ in a matter of weeks. Remote learning was a challenge for all, but one that was grasped with energy and enthusiasm.

By all accounts academic progress for if not all, then the vast majority here, did not slow at the tail end of the year; it may have even been enhanced by the lack of distraction, but even the loss of public exams did not dissuade or dishearten. The Fifth Year, with their ‘Bridging Courses’ instead of GCSE exams, and the Upper Sixth, with their ‘Churcher’s to Campus’ challenge certainly rose to the occasion, embracing their new courses, created overnight by need, not design, with enthusiasm and determination.

When it came to exam results the Fifth Year and Upper Sixth also needed to show enthusiasm, determination

and stoicism in remarkable measure as the Government and its quango, Ofqual, allowed the calculation of grades process to become a complete ‘Horlicks’.

There will be a great deal of debate about the calculation process and the validity of the GCSE and A Level grades which were awarded this summer, but the bottom line is that, almost without exception, the students here worked like absolute Trojans over the last two years, providing evidence aplenty of their true worth in test scenarios; they were truly deserving of reward and recognition for all their efforts and ability. I, for one, was very happy to applaud them resoundingly and without caveat, for their achievements and the remarkable stoicism they showed during the troubled times.

For the record, the exam results are opposite. It is inevitable that they are more buoyant than other years because they don’t take into account those souls who would have had a wobble on the day, who weren’t able to show their best in the exam hall for whatever reason. These results do reflect the cohort at their best based on the evidence up to the point in which the exams were cancelled, but that makes the outcome no less deserving.

Outside the classroom as well as inside, there was amazing adaptability; lockdown and social distancing did not prevent sport, adventurous activities, music, drama or art from going ahead.

In many years to come, when future generations reflect back on what was achieved in 2020, hopefully they will still have access to online evidence; maybe YouTube will still exist in 50 years’ time and the links from our website will still take the reader to the ‘Remote Orchestra’ and its rendition of the Pirates of the Caribbean or the ‘Remote Choir’ and The Lion King being sung from every corner of Hampshire. If there is a way to do it then the genius staff and students at Churcher’s will find a way to do it! There will inevitably be much self-reflection as we eventually ease ourselves out of the pandemic. Locally, nationally, globally, many will consider what could have been, should have been done, but one thing is clear for those at Churcher’s College, the academic year 2019-20 may have been very different from those that have gone before, or may be those yet to come, but what has been very much the same was the energy, enthusiasm, inspiration, innovation, ambition and sheer brilliance with which as much as was possible was squeezed out of as much as possible.

The Churcher’s ship sailed on despite the maelstrom around it and I leave you to read on and find out a little more about what was done and how it was done.

A Level Cumulative Percentage

A Level

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Total No. Exams 313 293 350 345 307 348 412 A*

10.7 14.2 20.7 18.3 21.5 25.8 36.0 A*-A

46.6 52.9 58.1 45.4 54.8 61.4 70.9 A-B

76.2 80.4 83.3 77.1 87.4 85.2 93.7 A-C

92.8 93.5 96.4 92.2 97.7 96.3 99.5 A-D

98.7 97.3 98.1 98.3 100.0 98.6 100.0 A-E

99.7 99.3 99.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

GCSE Cumulative Percentage

GCSE

2014 2015 2016 2017

2018 2019 2020 Total No. Exams 1152 1235 1246 1209

1348 1212 1345 A*

9 22.0 25.3 35.5 28.6 27.4 31.4 32.6 9-8 43.5 49.3 62.5 A*-A

66.7 60.8 64.8 63.5 9-7 65.7 70.8 85.0 A-B

9-6 83.9 88.7 95.7 89.6 87.3 88.1 91.1 9-5 94.2 98.1 99.6 A-C

97.7 97.5 98.2 98.8 9-4 98.5 99.8 100.0 A-D

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 9-3 98.6 99.8 100.0