Headmaster’s Welcome

Headmaster’s Welcome

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I am delighted to be writing the introduction to this edition of the annual Cryptian magazine, which tries, as always, to capture the life of our busy school and OC community.

This edition certainly does that, and it is remarkable to note that so much has been still able to take place at school despite the enormously disruptive year we have experienced due to Covid-19. The pandemic has certainly curtailed all our lives, and the rich tapestry of school life has been interrupted by the closure of schools, and the cancellation of so many of the events, trips and activities that make school life so rich and rewarding for both students and staff. I must thank everyone connected to the School for the incredible perseverance, support and care for the Crypt - its students, its staff, its parental body and OC community - over the last year or so. We are indeed fortunate to have such a generous, committed staff body at Crypt, who care deeply about their students, their school and its purpose, and have shown

2 themselves to be a remarkable group of people across this pandemic in keeping the work of the School going, even during periods of lockdown. Our students have shown themselves to be an equally remarkable group of individuals, persevering through the restrictions on their school and wider lives. My thanks go to our parents, who have been incredibly supportive of the School, as have our OCs. It has been a privilege to both lead this school over that period and to be a part of that vibrant, caring, tolerant and resilient Crypt community, who together make the School what it is today.

Continuing the work and life of the School has been challenging for staff, for students and their families over the last year; however, I think we can look back on this period in the long history of the School, with great pride and satisfaction that we not only kept school life going, but that we collectively rose to the considerable challenges of our time and, through our work, further strengthened the values, the vision and the work of the School.

Thank you then to everyone connected with the School for their effort and support over the last year. I feel immensely reassured reading through the magazine that so much has indeed carried on despite everything and we can now look forward, we hope, to the return to a greater degree of normalcy in our lives and in the life of the School.

For me, the highlight of the school year was in both September and then again in March 2021, when the students and staff returned to school following the then national lockdowns. The School provides a wonderful space in which our young people can grow, develop, learn and progress together; however, without students and staff, it is but an empty set of buildings with its purpose, its work and mission suspended. Their return breathed life back into the school and renewed that strong sense of purpose, of mission, we have here: to help support the development of responsible, caring, knowledgeable,informed and, above all, tolerant and respectful young people, ready to make a difference to both their own lives and the lives of others too.

We can look forward to the next few years in the life of our school with great assurance: confident in our values and our vision; in the strength of our staffing body; in the energy and enthusiasm of our students; in the support of our parents and OCs and in the sure knowledge that our work here at Crypt really matters. My thanks to Bernadette Warner, for taking on the huge task of editing this magazine and to the generosity of the Old Cryptian Club for their financial support for the publication and editing of The Cryptian.

With very best wishes, Nicholas Dyer, Headmaster