Thoughts from Sherborne

Chaplaincy

Spring has come back again. The Earth is like a child that’ s got poems by heart; so many poems, so many verses, patient toil winning her prizes at last.

Strict, the old teacher. We loved the whiteness in the old gentleman

’ s beard, its bright snow. Now when we ask what the green, what the blue is, Earth knows the answer, has learned it. She knows.

Earth, you

’ re on holiday, lucky one: play now! Play with us children! We ’ll try to catch you. Glad, joyous Earth! The gladdest must win.

Every lesson the old teacher taught her, all that is printed in roots and laborious stems: now she sings it! Listen, Earth sings!

Rainer Maria Rilke; translated by Stephen Cohn

As I sit writing these words in my study on what is a glorious Indian summer morning, looking out over the Abbey Close and with the old bells ringing out over this venerable town, it does indeed seem to me in the words of Maria Rilke, that a deeply longed-for and hoped-for spring has come bursting back to this part of Sherborne and in particular to the walls and environs of this ancient School founded so long ago and which has already seen and felt so much.

After these numerous and at times truly awful past months which have, between lockdowns, been marked by such quietness, indeed at times desertion and serenity, the springtime of the School returning to its new normal can be easily seen and heard everywhere. Our classrooms are full again, there is lively chatter in the corridors and Houses, our services in Chapel and Abbey have resumed, our social and competitive sporting endeavours are once more well under way. We find ourselves in good heart. And there is perhaps above all else a buzzing sense of anticipation and of purposeful new life about the place – the like of which anyone re-visiting Sherborne after a long absence would recognise and be familiar with straight away. It’ s probably wrong to labour the point, but we are living through nothing less than the transformation of an old way of life into the emergence of a new. And to live in such a way and at such a time is surely an exciting thing to be able to experience. As Wordsworth said, “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven. ” It is exciting, it is bliss, it is heavenly, because, for me at any rate, living in such a way and at such a time gives an opportunity to reflect on how things were before all of this and to consider how they may be as we stretch ourselves forward into the unknown future.

Of course, for a Christian, and for others too, there is something of Easter about all of this. The dying to the old and awaking to a new reality is indeed a most powerful image for these months of COVID we have been experiencing both together and separately. Hopefully most people who try to be Christian to whatever extent are people of hopefulness. I do think it is such hopefulness, that in the words of Captain Sir Tom, “Tomorrow will be a good day, ” is what sustains and then ultimately enriches a community such as this one, whether here at School or after days away. Hopefulness and renewal, these two things are what can mark our lives when we have a sense of the opportunities and challenges which the offer of new life can bring. In this there is resurrection, pure and simple, deep and enduring.

The annual Steven Lawn Lecture, given in memory of Steven (m 91) who was tragically killed in Tower Two of the World Trade centre, was held on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

The Steven Lawn Lecture addresses religious tolerance and peace and is given by a high profile speaker or Old Shirburnian working in peacekeeping or related organisations. This year the Lecture was given by Luke Baker (c 91), a friend and contemporary of Steven and was attended by several of Steven ’ s Digby peers and Housemaster Alistair Morgan.

11/9/2001

The Sherborne School Foundation has had a busy year in 2021 with notable changes to the office team and, like everyone else, getting used to working in new ways. The year started with Zoom meetings galore and a target to speak to 300 OS and parents on a one to one basis about the plans for the School within the year, a target achieved in the latter weeks of November. Your feedback and support for the Sherborne 360 projects has been fantastic and if I did not have the chance to chat to you during 2021, then I hope we can soon into 2022.

We are especially grateful to those 135 supporters who have kindly given or pledged to the Sport Centre project. We are now close to £3m of the £4m target being raised with many new pledges still coming in. We have recently launched the Sherborne 360 Sports Fundraising Dinner, please see page 39 for more details. We hope that you will be able to join us for what we hope will be a fun evening with friends.

In 2021, the Foundation has welcomed a new Trustee to its Board. William Paul (c 91) was in The Green while at Sherborne and has for many years, until recently, worked for Bridgepoint and also co-chairs the Development Board at St Catharine ’ s College, Cambridge. We are very pleased to have him join us. We were also very sad to say farewell to Stephanie Sanchez de Muniain in September after 16 years with the Foundation. Steph has been a great fundraiser and the key contact for Bow Society members. We have been joined by Tracey Richardson who is currently masterminding the Sports Dinner and we hope that she, although based primarily in London, will enjoy being part of the team.

The Sherborne 360 Programme is also looking to support other projects for Sherborne including widening access through bursarial support and helping Director of Art, Matt Bone, make some significant enhancements to the Art School ready for the 2022/23 academic year. More details of this will be released soon along with our plans for consecutive Giving Days involving the whole School between the 22 -24 June.

In the meantime, I hope to see and speak to many of you during 2022 and finally, of course, to say a huge ThANk YOu to those whose support has helped with over 50 projects since 1998 and is currently making projects such as the Sports Centre and Art School Developments possible.

ADRIAN BALLARD head of the Sherborne School Foundation

Sixth Form developing responsibility

The academic year has started encouragingly for the Sixth Form, who must be relieved to be experiencing something closer to life as normal at Sherborne. It has been fantastic to see the boys flourishing in the classroom, in sports and activities, in music and in Houses. The Sixth Form have also seamlessly transitioned back to supporting the low-level pastoral care functions that they were largely unable to support last year due to restrictions, with a caring and watchful eye over younger years, ever-ready to reach out supportively. This intangible but invaluable aspect of the boarding system not only brings warmth and benefit to all pupils, but it also develops responsibility, for Sixth Form boys in particular.

One change worthy of note this year is the formation of pupil voice committees with pupil leadership at their core. During Trinity Term '21, the then-Lower Sixth pupils were invited to apply for any of six new School Prefect positions leading the committees: Teaching and Learning, Equality and Diversity, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Co-curricular, Environment, and Community Outreach. Following written applications and interviews, six superb leaders in these areas were appointed. They then joined the Head of School and Heads of House to form the School Prefect body.

These structures do not merely offer leadership development opportunities to the few, aside from those in other formal structures such as sports teams or CCF. They establish groups, with pupils at their core, in which boys can get involved in an area of life (not just school life) that might really interest them, or to which they would like to invest their time and energy to strive for positive outcomes for the School and wider community. A recent highlight was some superb work to raise awareness throughout Black History Month from the Equality & Diversity Committee. The OS community is never far away from positive change. Several committee leads have engaged OS to participate in new initiatives or to join working groups or to give talks. This participation, conditioned by such breadth and depth of experience, gives the pupils invaluable touch points in the ' real world' and (possibly) a welcome break from teacher input.

In annual tradition, this is also a good time to mention the Lower Sixth Form Careers Convention, planned for March '22. More to follow via Sherborne Connect, but suffice to say OS support is mission-critical for success in this event, giving the boys reflections and advice on such a wide range of careers and paths to development. As ever, your input as OS is appreciated so much; we simply could not make this work without you.

ROBERT mARSTON Assistant head (Sixth Form)