Foreword from the Headmaster
First allow me to wish you all a warm welcome after the summer break, especially to our new families. I hope that you very much enjoy being part of the Rydal Penrhos community whether it be for the next 15 years or two years.
I hope too that after nearly two months away your children are refreshed, ready and excited at the prospect of the new academic year commencing next week.
I trust that they have found time to read, relax, have interesting experiences and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I have enjoyed hearing of a number of pupils’ successes over the summer and look forward to hearing more about them when they return.
Whilst many of us have been enjoying a well-earned rest the School’s Support Staff have been hard at work and I wish to publically thank them for their excellent efforts in refurbishing and developing a number of areas of the School site.
The children will see plenty of improvements when they return, in parts of the Prep School, the Senior School Dining Hall and the Economics and Business Studies Department for example, but it is the redecoration of the Chapel which I think really stands out.
The teaching staff have been busy too giving up their own time leading trips such as the Senior School expedition to Uganda and more recently the first XV pre-season rugby camp. I hope the former led to memories which will last a lifetime whilst the latter will lead to success in the more immediate future!
The main story of the summer, of course, is always the publication of examination results and I have been very pleased with this year’s outcomes. The release of the IB Diploma results in July saw some very good individual results including one pupil achieving 44 points, just 1 point shy of the maximum 45, placing her in the top 1% of pupils around the world who sat this year’s Diploma exams.
The A Level results were truly excellent both at an individual and collective level, enabling our Upper Sixth to go on to the universities and courses of their choice. A number of pupils secured straight A* and A grades. The Rydal Penrhos percentage of A% grades was double the national average and the overall figure of nearly 40% A* and A, when including the IB Diploma results, was our best for a number of years. The results were also recognised in last Saturday’s broadsheet Independent School League Tables. The Times and Daily Telegraph showed Rydal Penrhos to be the 69th best co-educational - boarding school in the UK, higher than a number of other schools in the region and placing us higher than many schools across the country who might claim to be of a higher academic standing.
League Tables of course cannot measure pupils’ happiness nor well-being, nor do they reflect the high participation rates in co-curricular pursuits. Neither do they recognise the achievements of pupils who may not have achieved those headline grabbing top grades but are nonetheless delighted to have either fulfilled or even surpassed their potential.
Here at Rydal Penrhos we value such things far more. However, the League Tables do recognise the academic achievements of the pupils and remind us that as well as everything else we do so well, our academic standing is in very good shape.
Such good health was also reflected in our GCSE results. This year’s percentage of A* grades was not only an improvement upon last year but also one of the highest in the School’s history. History was also made when our pupils received, in English and English Literature, the first ever Grade 9s, placing them in the very highest echelons of the country.
Of course we must not stand still academically and as we begin to prepare the Class of 2018 for their public exams I would like to welcome a number of new teaching staff to the Senior School. Mrs Sarah Seenan arrives as our new Head of Learning Support, Mr Andy Thomas and Mr Matthew Hubert join the Mathematics and Physics Department respectively. Ms Laura Gardener starts as the new Head of Food and Nutrition whilst Mrs Jo Wilkins will be teaching Psychology for the first time in the school’s curriculum.
I hope you will join me in welcoming them and their families to the school community and wish them well in their new roles.
Other more familiar staff are also beginning new roles. Mr Paul Sanders is now Assistant Head of Middle School (Year 9), Miss Fleur Jones is Head of Geography and Mrs Rhian Williams is Head of Mathematics. In the Prep School Mrs Clare Chamberlain takes up the position of Prep School Mathematics Co-ordinator whilst Mrs Catherine Culver has the equivalent position for English. We also have a number of staff joining our Strength and Conditioning team and the MFL Department as Language Assistants.
I am always excited by the arrival of new teachers, coaches etc. bringing fresh ideas and impetus to our academic and sporting programme. I look forward to seeing their impact on the school’s development and pupils’ learning.
2017-18 is going to be an exciting year in both the Prep and Senior School’s development and should you wish to speak with me about our plans then please do come along to one of my breakfast or tea sessions – these will be advertised in due course. We will invite you to our newly created Heathfield Room (part of the Headmaster’s residence) where Karen and I very much look forward to getting to know you all a little better and discussing what really matters in your child’s school life.
Thank you for your continued support of the school; leading this school remains a humbling privilege.
Simon Smith