Head of School Kate gave a memorable speech in Chapel last week to Wrekin's upper year groups (due to the restrictions on mass gatherings). Her call for her peers to step up and use their Wrekin spirit to be strong in the light of current events, using the 'parable of the fancy dress party', embodied our Wrekin pupils' attitudes to challenges and resilience in the face of them.

"Good morning everyone. I’ve got a really important message that I’d like to get across this morning and although I’m not expecting anyone to take notes, I would like you to listen carefully as there will be a short test at the end to see what you have remembered.

Under any other circumstances I’m sure that if someone had told us we’d be finishing school a week early for Easter, we’d all be delighted. So how come it doesn’t feel like that?

Well, maybe it’s because we don’t actually know when we’re all going to come together again. For those of us in the Upper Sixth we don’t actually know if we will ever be congregated in Chapel again. But at times like this, where everything feels a bit surreal and we all feel a bit lost, Wrekinians always know what to do’ - a quote stolen from Mr Platford himself.

I want to tell you about a fancy dress party that I recently organised for the members of the Upper Sixth to celebrate the end of our mock exams. To be honest, I didn’t think it was going to happen. We had about five takers, I couldn’t drum up any interest. There just didn’t seem to be any enthusiasm from the year to get together and celebrate. Mr Southall had said I’d need to get about 40 people for it to go ahead (bearing in mind I had five) I’d just about given up hope of this fancy dress party ever getting off the ground.

I messaged on our Upper Sixth group chat to break the news that the party was off due to a lack of interest, when all of a sudden the true Wrekin spirit was ignited. Luc signed up some of the boys, then Finn messaged saying he would come too and Olly in true auctioneer style commented ‘That’s 20. Keep going Kate. How many do you need?’ to which Dom replied ‘now 21’ and then Jordon added ‘now 22’.

In the end we had most of the year group turn up and we all had a really enjoyable night just socialising together. People came for different reasons; some liked the idea of fancy dress, some came to support me and the effort I’d gone to to try and organise it, and others simply just came for the pizza, but it didn’t matter because at the 11th hour when faced with cancellation, we came together and I was genuinely touched.

We need to draw on that Wrekin spirit now more than ever. The rest of the school year looks a bit uncertain and we don’t know what is going to happen, but one thing we do know for certain is …..

We’re Wrekinians.

Exams don’t define us, we’re not judged at this school by what grades we get, we’re judged by our work ethic and our ‘can do’ attitude, that employers in later life will be craving. So embrace this whole new way of working, be positive - put your hand up and join the party.

For Upper Sixth and Fifth Form, the formal exams may have been cancelled but that doesn’t mean online lessons are pointless. If everything you did at school was simply to pass an exam, we’d all just read the specification and simply do what was required, but we don’t. We get a broader knowledge and acquire skills that will help us in the future. I appreciate it’s so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but when you leave school there’s no exams but the best of us never stop learning. My mum has joined the Community Choir recently. She can’t read music, has never sang before, except for in the car doing our little carpool karaokes where me and my sisters all attempt to be the singer, backing singers, harmony parts, accompaniment and tambourine at the same time. But she has loved it. Learning never stops and as long as we surround ourselves with people who we can have a good time with, whether that’s in the virtual world or the real world, we can’t go far wrong.

I asked you at the beginning to pay attention for the test at the end.

I'm sorry to tell you that there is no test, but I hope that doesn’t invalidate everything I have just said. 2020 will go down in history. There will be lessons about this pandemic in years to come. So as we take our place in history - let's make a pledge together to make Wrekin proud. Let’s be the best we can be in the face of adversity.

We will rise to meet this new challenge because we are Wrekinians and always will be."