The Headmaster’s Address

Senior Prizegiving Tuesday 29 June 2021

Ladies and Gentlemen It is with a sense of frustration that I present my Prizegiving address to you today, once again, through the medium of the internet. When I did so this time last year, who would have thought that we would be doing exactly the same twelve months later? As we approach the conclusion of the Trinity Term, we can reflect on another extraordinary year which has challenged us, frustrated us, disappointed us, and inspired us in equal measure.

After the Trinity Term lockdown of 2020, we were relieved and excited to return to school in September and to teach and learn face to face for the whole of the Michaelmas Term. We were very fortunate that, unlike most other schools in the region, with the exception of a handful of students in the Lower Sixth, the RGS was open for all students throughout the term. It was with a sense of exasperation, therefore, that we learned at the beginning of January that we were locked down again for the majority of the Lent Term, but I am proud of the efficient manner in which we returned to the remote classroom and confident that the academic education of the boys was not unduly affected. The joy of resuming face-to-face education and joining together as a community throughout this Trinity Term has been very evident and we are hopeful that the vaccination programme will enable the School to return to some semblance of normality from September. We are keeping our fingers very firmly crossed; we all want to enjoy our school as it used to be.

On an occasion such as this, I would usually report on the successes and achievements of the RGS during the past academic year. There have been some extraordinary achievements which have been reported to all via the usual channels. Not least, the success of Young Enterprise team Firefly, who won awards in local, regional and national competitions with a product designed specifically to help those working from home during lockdown. Such innovation and entrepreneurship was rewarded with the accolade of Best UK Company from 720 different Young Enterprise groups, the first time that an RGS team has ever won this award. Team Firefly will now represent the UK in the European finals in July. At a time when companies are looking for creative and innovative young people, such experience will hold our students in very good stead for the future.

There have been so many notable successes this year, but I wanted to use this time to reflect on the Coronavirus pandemic and the important things which I believe have come to the fore at the RGS during this extraordinary year and which we don’t often publicise as much. At my first assembly in September to the new First Form boys I always say to them that I have three expectations of them as RGS pupils: kindness, kindness, and kindness. And at a time of challenge, sadness, concern and stress, it is this sense of

Jenny Rothwell

“A little kindness goes a long way and now even more boys will be able to benefit from the George & Agnes Pullen Bursary Award in the future as a result of Jenny’s altruistic intervention.”

Carol Service in St Mary’s Guildford

kindness within our community which has brought us all together, and which has provided me, as Headmaster of this school, with a real sense of joy and confidence for the future.

Kindness can be demonstrated in so many different ways, both collectively and individually. A demonstration of collective kindness was most evident in the conclusion of our Twenty for 2020 bursary campaign. When we set the goal, a few years ago, to raise funds to create 20 transformational bursaries it seemed a very ambitious target, and frankly, we weren’t sure if it was achievable. That we have raised £2.6 million since the campaign was launched is a testament to the generosity and kindness of so many supporters, and the hard work of RGS staff particularly in our Foundation Office. This successful conclusion has come about due to the collective endeavours of the whole RGS community and we can all share in the joy of seeing 20 bright boys join the School who would otherwise have been unable to access an RGS education for financial reasons. To quote a current member of staff:

“I just wanted to say a deep heartfelt thank-you for making me more proud today of being a member of this school than at any point in my time here. Those boys will have their lives transformed by that money, and in turn, the whole school will continue to be transformed by their presence here as we continue this journey.”

As we prepared to announce the successful conclusion of this campaign, we were surprised and delighted to receive a letter informing us of the legacy gift from the widow of an Old Guildfordian. He left the RGS in 1919 and attributed his success in life to his education here. We were aware that a sum of money was to be left to the School by his widow. She passed away a couple of months ago and the last few years of her life were particularly difficult. She had very little family around her and lockdown was very hard with her failing health. The actions of a member of our staff, Jenny Rothwell, simply by visiting (when allowed) and by keeping in touch by letter or by phone call, was not motivated by reward but was simply an act of kindness from one human being to another. We were all very sad to have lost a dear supporter of the School but delighted that she decided to alter her will and staggered to learn that she had left the School a million pounds. A little kindness goes a long way and now even more boys will be able to benefit from the George & Agnes Pullen Bursary Award in the future as a result of Jenny’s altruistic intervention.

The past twelve months have brought opportunities for the RGS community to look inwards at the manner in which we treat each other and those outside of our community. The death of George Floyd and requests from current pupils and Old Guildfordians as to how we as a school were going to respond, provided an opportunity for us all to review how diverse and inclusive we are as a school. Staff and student questionnaires revealed that our pupil body is a diverse one, our staff body less so. And, although in many respects, we are an inclusive school, there are ways in which we need to improve. We can only consider ourselves to be a kind community if everyone is treated equally, and with respect and kindness.

Christmas mufti day

Over the past twelve months I have employed a number of consultants to review our procedures and to train staff and pupils so that Diversity and Inclusion is at the forefront of our minds. This is a long-term process. It is not something which can be fully embedded in the culture of the School overnight but I am confident that our school will be a better and kinder place in which to learn and to work in the future.

The website Everyone’s Invited has also brought the issue of sexism, toxic masculinity and sexual abuse amongst young people to the fore and we are doing all we can to ensure that RGS boys receive an appropriate education, meaning that they leave us with the correct values and behaviours so that they treat others, particularly those of the opposite sex, with the respect they deserve. It was with some degree of pleasure that I heard that the creator of the Everyday Sexism Project, a well-respected and hard-hitting presenter on the subject of toxic masculinity, expressed her delight when she spoke to our Lower Sixth a few weeks ago, saying that they were the best all-male audience, in terms of their behaviour, their questions and their engagement, that she had ever encountered. We are doing something right at the RGS in terms of preparing our young men for the future but there is still a way to go. The kindness of RGS boys never ceases to amaze me. I know that I can always rely on them to volunteer, to support, to help and to empathise. 15 Old Guildfordians generously volunteered to assist us with our telephone campaign at the start of the school year. Over the course of just 10 days these splendid young men raised £130,000 in support of the bursary campaign. A request for volunteers to train to become Senior Mentors resulted in 80 Lower Sixth students putting their names forward. The mentors provide support and encouragement to younger boys in the School who are struggling either from an academic or a pastoral point of view and they provide invaluable assistance in helping their mentees to address the problems they are facing. That over half the year group wanted to be involved in our mentoring scheme says a lot for the generosity of RGS pupils.

Individual acts of kindness are a demonstration to others of the values of our school. I received the following email back in September from a complete stranger:

“I’d like to draw your attention to an event I witnessed while shopping in the High Street last Friday. A pupil from the RGS (I would guess Sixth Form) ran down the High Street to catch up with his friends and explained that he was sorry he was late but had to stop

to help a new First Form pupil who had got completely lost. Witnessing such genuine kindness speaks volumes for the values of your school and was a pleasure to see.”

And staff also make a massive contribution to our culture. During the second lockdown at a time when many members of staff with young families were struggling to combine childcare and teaching, Jane Isaacs, our HR manager, came up with the idea to send a small gift from Amazon to each child as a way of showing that the School recognises the difficulties that remote teaching creates: a lovely act of thoughtfulness and kindness which was gratefully received.

The past few months have been particularly difficult for boys and staff at the RGS for a number of reasons. The announcement by the government at the start of the year that A Level and GCSE exams would be cancelled for the second year running brought consternation to many. After the confusion of last summer’s public exam debacle, schools were required to create Teacher Assessed Grades for each pupil. This meant that over the space of just a couple of months, assessment papers were written, assessment exams were sat, over 10,000 papers were marked, and over 2,000 grades were created. It has been a time of great stress and concern for boys and staff alike but I am grateful for the hard work and diligence of everyone involved. I am sure that pupils facing public exams this term will be pleased with the results they have achieved but one cannot underestimate the extraordinary amount of hard work which has been required particularly of the staff, the Heads of Department and the Exams team in creating these grades. I thank everyone who has contributed to what has been a remarkable effort over the past few months. At the start of the Lent Term we were devastated to hear the news of the death of Max Windle, a member of the Lower Sixth who died in very tragic circumstances. At such a time as this the support shown to members of our community, staff to boys, boys to staff, and boys to each other, was truly remarkable. The loss of a pupil and a friend is one of the hardest things a school community must deal with. I am indebted to the pastoral team for the care they demonstrated at this difficult time and for the strength of character evident, particularly from the boys in the Lower Sixth, as they came to terms with this loss, and looked out for each other.

Max was a young man of great character who epitomised kindness and empathy. We will recognise the contribution he made to this community as we celebrate his life in a Service of Thanksgiving next week. I will recount in that service the story of Max when he was a Fifth Former, at a swimming trial during the first week of the school year, chatting to a very tearful First Form pupil on the pool side, reassuring him that everything was going to be alright.

I have spent most of this address talking about the way we interact with each other in this school. Kindness is the human quality that reflects the human essence. A kind person is a good and benevolent person because kindness requires, indeed demands, affection and understanding towards others. The very best human beings are kind, and young people learn to be kind from the model that is offered to them from their parents, from adults, from their peers, and generally from those around them. Kindness can be taught in many different ways but the most important way is through example, examples like those I have described in this address. Good exam grades are

“The kindness of RGS boys never ceases to amaze me. I know that I can always rely on them to volunteer, to support, to help and to empathise.”

important, of course, but kindness is the most important attribute we can teach at this school.

I look back on the past year with a huge degree of satisfaction. Like all schools, we have faced a very turbulent period, and we have survived. Not just survived, we have thrived. We have embraced the many challenges faced and used them as an opportunity to innovate and to change. We have achieved so much, but the hallmark of this year has not been the headline successes but rather the mundane, the ordinary, the everyday: those little things that make this school such a special place and which, in a more normal year, might easily be overlooked. I would like to celebrate the good humour, flexibility and kindness of everyone in our community. It is the daily interactions, watching boys at breaktimes just being boys, the camaraderie and friendship of pupils and staff, watching our staff engage so positively to make the boys’ education special; it is this spirit which defines who we are and this is truly worthy of celebration.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this wonderful school over the past year and let us all hope that this time next year, I am once again standing in front of you.

Thank you for listening.

Dr Jon Cox Headmaster