Message from the Head of Secondary: Becoming Whole

Students in Year 13 have a lot on their minds just now. As well as coping splendidly with a global pandemic, they are entering the final few months of their International Baccalaureate course, a course rightly regarded as a challenging one but also one which serves as the finest preparation for undergraduate study that a school can provide. And on top of that, they are also making some very big decisions about the future, namely what their undergraduate studies should be and where in the world should they do them…!?  

Some parents reading this might be thinking ‘my little one is only 5 years old – I don’t need to worry about university!’  Time passes quickly though and in what can seem like the blink of an eye, personal statements, references, Oxbridge, UCAS, and Ivy League become the vocabulary of home discussions.  As our students make their way through our school, we always have a keen eye on the places that our students will be going to, where they will truly begin their adult life and where they will develop into the specialists and experts that will take knowledge and understanding forward in their chosen fields. 

The word ‘university’ comes from the Latin ‘universitas’, meaning ‘a whole’ and it grew to mean a ‘community of teachers and scholars’.  A university is where our students truly become ‘whole’, it is where they listen, learn, argue, debate and forensically examine the roots of the knowledge that humans have built thus far.  And it is where they will go to add more building blocks.  We wish our year 13 students and their families ‘good luck’ as they look to their next academic steps and we remind all of our other students – and their families – that your turn will come!

Chris Lowe