Framlinghamian 2019 - Single Pages 72dpi - Flipbook - Page 8
SPEECH DAY
HEADMASTER’S
SPEECH DAY
Paul Taylor with Richard Sayer
The Chairman’s famous husbandry of
resources and instinct for economy has
landed me with two roles this year, leaving
me to speak to you this morning as both
Headmaster and Guest Speaker; time
will tell whether that doubles the length of
my speech or halves the sentence of your
listening!
Joking apart I am very grateful for the
invitation to share a few thoughts on my last
Speech Day and I promise not to keep you
too long. I’ll try not to make it too much of
an Oscar-like acceptance speech of thankyous, but you will understand that there will
have to be a bit of that.
As I take my leave of Fram, I am reminded
with trepidation of Oscar Wilde’s words:
‘Some people cause
happiness wherever
they go; others
whenever they go’
I will live in my little bubble of optimism
regarding which of those is more applicable
to me! However, I have no doubt that it
is the former of these that applies to this
year’s leavers, and of course today sees an
important rite of passage for them, and it is
only right that they take their formal leave
of a place that will have done much to form
the people that they are now. I always set
the challenge to each top year to leave this
school a better place than they found it,
and I have no doubt that this year’s leavers
have done just that. They have worked hard,
played hard and set a fine example of how
to set about life at school. I will look forward
to their company this evening. They have
been exceptionally well-led by a fine prefect
team, who I would like to thank for their
work and for their constancy throughout
the year. Liberty’s classy address earlier will
have given you a glimpse of the quality of
the outstanding leadership she has provided
all year – she really has been exceptional
in every regard – and it has been a real
privilege to work with her, Joe and Rose as
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THE FRAMLINGHAMIAN 2019
the senior prefect team this year: my gosh,
they are an impressive team who personify
so much of what we value here at the
College. Thank you.
There is one other departure that deserves
mention this afternoon. Bob Skitch retires
after a remarkable 31 years of service,
during which time he has contributed
enormously to the academic and cocurricular life of the school. His commitment
to sport across all three terms has been
particularly valued and generations of
3rd team players have benefitted from his
enthusiasm (and some would say from his
umpiring…). Bob is a proper schoolmaster
who does not give a second thought to
giving his time at weekends and holidays
(he is a CCF and DofE stalwart); instead,
he simply does not question that such
dedication is just part of the job. In fact I
cannot think of many teachers who have so
generously given up so much of their time
for the benefit of our pupils and I know that
Bob – like me – would argue that he has got
so much more out of the job as a result. Bob
has also built up an enormous reservoir of
expertise on Further Education, running the
school’s universities programme for longer
than any of us can remember and I know
that Miss Cranmer, who succeeds him in this
role, is very grateful for his offer of being on
the end of the phone should she need him
next year. Suffice it to say that it will be hard
to imagine this place without Bob Skitch.
And, as I come to the end of my time
here, I can reflect with real warmth on the
privilege of leading this community for 10
years. I recognise that a Head is only ever
a temporary custodian of a school. Heads
are not the College – it is the Bob Skitches
of this world and so many other staff in
front of me who are the real critical mass
here. It was clear to me when I joined the
College in 2009 that this was a school
with a very strong soul, and one that had
proved over time its ability to adapt and to
evolve in response to changing priorities
and challenges. It’s why I am so pleased
with the development of Paul’s Court and
the Sixth Form Centre that we completed a
few years ago as a physical expression of
this: I love the fact that the old external walls
are now internal, showing that the school
knows where it comes from, but then the
wonderful glass façade illustrates that we
are an outward and forward-looking school.
Architecture speaks a language, and that
tells the story of a balance between change
and continuity. A Head’s job is to respect
the founding principles of the school – to be
true to its soul - but also, Doctor Who-like,
to regenerate it and to perhaps reinterpret
those principles and apply them to the pupils
of today and to the world into which they will
be graduating.
With this in mind, and for what it is worth,
I am delighted to be passing on that
custodian baton to Louise North, who I have
got to know very well over the course of
this year on her many visits to the College.
Louise has made a wonderful effort to get
under the skin of the school and with every
meeting I have become even more confident
that she ‘gets’ Framlingham and that she
will do a terrific job in taking it forward and
making this school (even) better. Thank you
for supporting her in her request for the
recent parents’ survey – she is quite right to
find out what our key stakeholders feel about
the school (I did the same in my first year),
and the company that ran the research said
the response levels were way above the
norm – a very positive sign. I know that this
warm, strong community will welcome and
support Louise in the way they have me,
and I feel so pleased to be leaving this dear
place in such capable and accomplished
hands.
Louise North will be inheriting a school that
is in very good shape and in very good
heart. The word holistic is greatly over-used
by schools when describing their offering,
but if we are to remain true to the famous
dictum that ‘Education is what remains when
what has been learnt has been forgotten’,
then it is essential that we continue to
develop and nurture the whole person, and
not just the exam candidate.