Review of the Year

Below we print extracts from the Headmaster's Commemoration Speech:

Those of you who have attended several or more of these prizegiving occasions know of my reluctance to report in great detail every match played, examination passed or concert performed. Nevertheless this is an important opportunity each year for me to give you at least a sketch of the School's achievements and successes, a taking of the temperature, an annual check-up of our health and fitness.

Appeal '89

Foundation

You will be expecting me to refer, as I did last year, to Appeal '89. Our total now stands at over £525,000, with some as yet untapped possibilities which we hope will allow us to pass our new target of £600,000. Old Peterites have been generous in their support, and I want to pay a special tribute to our current parents for their marvellous response which has been a huge encouragement to us as we have continued to plan and determine the development of the School's facilities. This year we have near at hand tangible proof of this generosity: the Chilman Building greatly enhancing our resources both educationally and aesthetically and opened by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent two days ago; and the Alcuin Library, a superb addition to our academic purposes, associated particularly and rightly with Old Peterites who gave magnificently to the Appeal and to be opened immediately after Prizegiving by Sir Peter Shepherd. There can be no one more fitted to carry out this task: as a Governor for nineteen years, as Chairman of the Board's Properties and Amenities Committee and as President of Appeal '89 the School owes him a great debt of thanks.

Further work is planned for the months and years ahead: the development of the Grove Block as a Modern Languages Centre will start in the autumn, to be followed, hopefully soon after, by similar improvements to the Scott Block which is destined to become the centre for our Mathematics. The upgrading of the Methodist halls for music and drama lies ahead, and I hope that the continued success of Appeal '89 and careful management and control of our finances may allow this work to proceed in due course. To those of you who have given to the Appeal my wannest thanks; to those who have yet to give, a piece of relevant information — a new and updated donors' list will be published in the New Year.

Academic Results

Whatever else happens at St. Peter's and whatever else we achieve, our first task is an academic one: each pupil taught stimulatingly and thoroughly with full intellectual potential being realised. To our current educational concerns I shall return later in my report, but a few statistics deserve emphasis at this stage: a 90% A level pass rate last summer (which was a 12% improvement on the previous year); thirteen places, some conditional on A level results, gained in last autumn's selection procedures at Oxford and Cambridge and sixty-seven out of last summer's upper sixth leavers proceeding to degree courses. This I think speaks well of our academic achievements.

Sport

Turning to sport, I am glad that we are able to offer a rich variety of games and exercise, promoting physical well-being, healthy and enjoyable competition and individual self-confidence. If our cricket and rugby have not been as successful as in previous years there has been some compensation in excellence and enthusiasm achieved in other sports. Netball, girls' and boys' hockey, squash, tennis, cross-country all flourish, and I want to make special mention of our rowing under Ann Hodgson's overall guidance: both girls' and boys' fours have performed splendidly in many regattas, medals and trophies have been presented with the greatest regularity by myself in Saturday assemblies and only last Saturday we were successful in six events at the Leeds Regatta and won the Victor Ludorum Trophy for the best school, club or university taking part. I would also like to mention how we are particularly indebted to Joshua Rowe, with us from Australia in the upper sixth for just two terms, and his parents for their outstanding gift of a new and muchneeded four. Finally, concerning sport, I should like to make mention of the Shuttleworth Cup (and what an imaginative leaving present Guy Shuttleworth requested) presented annually to the pupil whose contribution to School sport has been outstanding. Anshuman Mondal is a very worthy first recipient. C.C.F.

It is good to record that our Combined Cadet Force contingent continues to flourish in these voluntary, coeducational and less militaristic times. Suffice it for me to quote the concluding words of the Inspecting Officer's report following our biennial parade and review last February:

An effective and enthusiastic C.C.F. Commander

Bulcock and his team of officers are to be congratulated on running a very good contingent, one of the best in the north-east of England.

Music

We have had further fine music-making this year with the Yorkshire Evening Press describing St. Peter's as 'a hotbed of musical talent'. There have been some thrilling events, not least the concert for the Duchess of Kent on Thursday. The Choral Society has among other pieces performed the Vivaldi Gloria and the Faur6 Requiem, and its pupil membership steadily and gratifyingly grows. We have also had some excellent professional visitors including the Demon Barbers, Yorkshire Classic Brass, the 'cellist loan Davies and the baritone Stephen Varcoe. But invidious though it sometimes is to mention individual names, I feel bound to list a few of our own exceptional instrumentalists, and Claire Altman, Antony Dunn, Martin Kershaw, Andrew Moxon and Tifanny Richards particularly come to mind.

I could mention much else: the Christmas Term production of My Fair Lady, the pupils who have secured R.A.F. flying scholarships, the Saturday evening debates, the holiday expeditions to Europe and further afield, the community service regularly and quietly undertaken week by week, the art exhibition at the King's Manor put on by some of our sixth formers, and so on. These are all indicators of the liveliness, initiative, imagination and worthwhile activity of very many of our pupils.

Pursuing this theme I should like to refer to three particular occasions this year which showed the School at its most resourceful, fulfilled and happy. The first of my trio is the Great Egg Race with its nice blend of high technological skill and healthy inter-house spirit. Secondly, I remember the three-day visit from Brisbane of the St. Peter's Lutheran College Chorale on tour in the United Kingdom. Peterites responded splendidly both in the hospitality shown to our guests and in the musical challenge presented by our visitors: our own choir scaled new heights at the joint concert, and the School's singing when our friends were with us in Chapel was equally memorable. My third highpoint has to be Peterswalk '89 — the twenty miles covered by everybody from Boroughbridge to York, the £16,000 raised in that one day and the multiple sclerosis ambulance on display in the School today which was the outcome of all that superb organisation and effort. Just two footnotes: as I passed the other way offering my Rowntrees minties to all the walkers, I tired only slightly of hearing for the umpteenth time the comment, T was told not to take sweets from strange men', and I liked the suggestion made at a Housemasters' meeting by David Hughes when the question of pupils not volunteering for the walk came up. David's suggestion was that any in that category should follow along behind and pick up the litter. Incidentally there were no non-participants!

Distinguished Visitors

A last comment to add to this review section of my report: one of the indications of a lively, interested and interesting School is the quality of its visitors. In this respect we have had a vintage year. Not only do we note the presence of our eminent guests today, but die list since last September includes Peter Gibson, surely England's most accomplished expert on stained glass, Dr. Oliver Taplin, giving us a preview of his fascinating Radio Four series on Odysseus, Colonel Blashford-Snell with his unique accounts of his life of adventure, Christopher Hill, eminent Old Peterite and our foremost historian of the seventeenth century, Richard Whiteley who gave a most comprehensive talk on the future of television, and not less than three Archbishops, Lord Coggan here for the 25th anniversary of Feed the Minds, the Archbishop of York who confirmed thirty of our Junior School and Senior School pupils, and Bishop Trevor Huddleston, two weeks before the Nelson Mandela Wembley event, giving an exceptional and inspirational sermon at one of our Sunday evensongs.

The Staff

I hope that I have said sufficient to show you that this has been another very busy and successful year. Our achievements are only made possible by the dedication, skill and sheer hard work of the staff. This terminology embraces more than those who teach, and I include the bursarial, administrative and secretarial staffs, our caterers, our cleaners and those who maintain our buildings and grounds. Many of them have worked for the School over a large number of years, and their loyalty

and care for the well-being of the School community is enormously appreciated. To the teachers an additional word of thanks from me for all that they contribute in these challenging and demanding educational times. Parents too acknowledge this, and it is heartening when I receive letters which say so. The following extract from one such is not untypical of many that come across my desk:

I felt that I should take this opportunity of writing to you to express our sincere thanks for the guidance and support given to Jonathan (I substitute a different name) during his time at St. Peter's. We have both been overwhelmed by the dedication and professionalism of all the members of your staff who have had dealings with him during his School career. There's every reason to be confident he can succeed in the future — in good part because of the education and grounding in citizenship he has received at St. Peter's.

I add my own personal thanks to those of many grateful parents.

Keith Coulthard

Commemoration is the occasion of farewells and good wishes. First there is a member of staff who deserves a mention though fortunately with us for a further year: I refer to Keith Coulthard, this term giving up responsibility for careers after a rather short stint of thirty-seven years. Keith must have become Careers Master at St. Peter's at the time when such a post was only being thought of at most other Schools, and yet he has kept marvellously up-to-date, mastering careers computer programmes, the intricacies of UCCA and PCAS and the introduction in recent years of work experience, schools-industry links and much else. Good wishes to Dick Hubbard as he takes over this important role, and special thanks to Keith Coulthard on his third-of-a-century-plus as Head of our Careers Department.

Farewell

Four members of staff leave us this term. We wish Julia Stanley well on completion of her one-year appointment with its almost impossible load of G.C.S.E. teaching in History, English and Religious Studies. Farewells also to Margaret Holt, a pillar for the last two years of our Mathematics Department, a superb tutor to both boys and girls and an inspiring organiser of our expanding community service group. We alsd say goodbye to David Crook, excellent teacher of French, dedicated coach of both rugby and cricket, and sympathetic and sensible day Housemaster. He was unable to contemplate the double stress of both marriage and the St. Peter's workload, and so Durham's gain is our loss. He and Debbie have the good wishes of all of us for the future.

Denis Hirst

Special good wishes go to Denis Hirst both for his continuing recovery from illness and for the happiest of retirements for him and Joyce. Denis came to St. Peter's in 1964 and became Head of Modern Languages in 1969. In 1985 he and Joyce took on the big responsibilities of The Rise at a time when others would have considered themselves past the demands of Housemastering: this says much for Denis's energy, orderliness, efficiency and consideration. I thank him for his many years' service to the School and repeat our warmest good wishes for health and happiness in the new life ahead for him and Joyce.

John Rayson

I have one final tribute to pay, and that is to someone who is not a member of the Senior School staff. John Rayson's association with St. Peter's began when he joined the School as a boy in 1942. He leaves, almost halfa-century later, having been Master of St. Olave's for the last twenty-one years. A mark of his achievements there — his quiet, unpompous, sympathetic, efficient leadership — is the £3,500 subscribed by past and present St. Olave's parents towards his leaving present. My thanks to him are those from a colleague of only five years' acquaintance, but I want to record my gratitude to him not only for his many contributions to the School but also for his highly valued friendship to me personally and for all his abundant support in these fast-changing times. I would cite two recent developments in which his high qualities have been ably demonstrated: co-education, with girls now constituting one-third of St. Olave's, introduced with no fuss, no traumas, no crises, and with a Junior School as happy and as cohesive as ever; and the Chilman Building, carefully planned by John and his staff, ready for use this September and a symbol of the flourishing School which he has led so successfully since 1969. I thank him, we thank him, and we wish all happiness in retirement to both him and Sally.

Looking Ahead

I want to end by coming back nearer home and referring to a letter which I received in October from a Peterite who left us just a year ago and who wrote to me from his recently-joined university. Part of what he said was as follows:

I joined St. Peter's in September 1982, at a time when, to coin a phrase, the School was in the doldrums. Seven years later I left with all the places taken and the School now extremely popular with pupils and parents both prospective and present....

I have always found the staff most willing to help and dedicated.... The facilities are first-class and development plans both sensible and imaginative....

I hope that the School continues to improve as a whole and also in the education, both academic and sporting, which it provides. Yours in gratitude.

It was a heartening letter to receive. I hope that we shall not sit back and smugly bask in the warmth of his congratulations. Rather we must heed his hopes for the future and strive to achieve them.