Best Wishes to Year 6 Graduates

What a very special morning we shared for our Year 6 graduates. It was a ceremony which included some very powerful themes to reflect on. These themes have certainly been central to the learning and successes of our Year 6 students here today, and the rest of our students back at school, but they are also themes that remain relevant to the adults in the room. 

We have celebrated ambition, social-service, personal-development and academic-excellence. 

We have celebrated what it means to be an outstanding student, and we have seen in Clayton Wu and Elinor Williamson (our Principal’s Award recipients), that at BSG we think that includes commitment inside and outside of the classroom, commitment to our hobbies, to our friends, to our community, to our school and to our learning. We think that an outstanding student shows respectin all areas of their lives; respect for their peers, their teachers, their school and themselves. Outstanding students show responsibility – they take-ownership for their learning and set goals for success. Clayton and Elinor know that they are in the driver’s seat for their future. At BSG, we also think that outstanding students show integrity, doing the right thing even when no one is looking. For being straight-up with their peers, with their teachers and with their families. Outstanding students let their consistent actions show the world what they are made of. 

All of our students today, through their performances, through their words and through the smiles on their faces, we have seen a love of learning. Through the way our amazing Year 6 teachers and specialist departments have designed engaging and innovative learning experiences, we have seen a love of learning. Through the way our school has provided broad, holistic development though sporting, cultural academic and artistic enrichment opportunities, we have seen a love of learning. 

I am very thankful to the team here, our Year 6 Lead and Assistant Head of Primary, Ms Laura Elsmore, our Assistsant Year Lead, Ms Amy Stather, Mr Reedie, Mrs Lorentz, Mr Holling and of course the amazing Ms Sonia, Ms Paula and Ms Sophie for their respect & integrity and for the responsibility & commitment they have shown for their students in a hugely challenging year. To our broader staff team still back at school, I am equally thankful. 

I am also thankful to the commitment of our Admissions & Marketing team who have done an amazing job at helping to arrange this amazing venue alongside the work they do each day to grow our school and community. 

I would also like to express a deep thank to you, our school community for your commitment to your children and to us as a school. This academic year has seen a return to parents on-site for learning celebrations, for PTCs, for sporting events, for an incredible Primary Production, for a number of parent-workshops and for events which have helped us to reconnect after a difficult few years. 

Our graduation celebration has not just been about the recipients of our special awards. Our celebrations recognised the completion of Year 6. Year 6 is the end of Primary School at BSG, but also in Chinese schools, in British schools, in schools in many of our home countries. This graduation marks a significant milestone for us all here in person, and also for our families around the world celebrating with us through the photos & videos we will share and the stories we will tell. Your grandparents, uncles, aunties, cousins and family friends will be remembering the babies you were just back in 2012. They will be looking on with pride at the independent and driven people you have become. They will be curious about what the future holds for your and will also be asking themselves where the years have gone!

Have a safe and adventurous summer. We look forward to welcoming you back for the first day of Term 1 on Monday 21 August.