Speech Day 2010
Girls, parents, governors and staff were treated to an excellent Speech Day at Lavant House this year. In the middle of a very hot afternoon, guest speaker Pom Oliver talked of her experiences whilst visiting both the North and South Poles before presenting the prizes to the girls. One member of staff, Dr Nicholas Sturt who teaches Latin in the Senior School, also received a prize from the Teaching Council for the excellent presentation of his lessons. The cheer for Dr Sturt as he received his prize nearly brought the roof down! A cream tea was served afterwards and the Art Studio housed a magnificent exhibition of girls' work for all to see.
Mrs Bartholomew's Speech
Good afternoon ladies, gentlemen, governors and staff.
Mindful of the great Winston Churchill's comment that the mind cannot take in more than the seat can endure, I had intended to keep my first speech to you as Headmistress short. This has proved difficult to achieve since we have had such a busy, successful and eventful year at Lavant House. And I am not just referring to volcanoes, snow, epidemics and latterly diesel spillages on the Lavant Road.
I started my first assembly with the girls saying that I wanted to create a school about which people would say "never underestimate a Lavant girl". That phrase, originally coined by the Headmaster of Westminster School about his boys in the 1970s, combined with our school motto of Tuum Est (or it's up to you) seemed to encapsulate what we seek to do here at school. We want to encourage our girls to be confident, resourceful, achievers and the sort of girls who are prepared to take a risk and try new activities. I urged the girls in September to try something new at school this year, whether small or large, to push themselves in a new direction. Slightly to my surprise, the girls have agreed wholeheartedly with this phrase too and it has cropped up on numerous occasions. I have been delighted that our girls are confident enough to respond to the many challenges they face at school and in the wider world. One very little girl, when out on a walk with her parents one Sunday after crossing a small stream (something she would not ordinarily do) was even heard to say "never underestimate a Lavant girl"
The musical life of the school has continued to flourish. In addition to our two choirs (one an award winner in the Chichester Festival), we now have a Chamber Orchestra and a Strings Group and we look forward to the commencement of a Flutes Choir in the autumn. Practically all of our Juniors learn an instrument and can read music. Lessons on our new organ will begin next year. Music was showcased in our recent senior Arts Evening, together with Art and Drama, and we look forward to our Junior Concert next week. We remember back to a terrific production of Alice in the autumn too. I am delighted to announce that the Old Dairy will be used for our new 'Artist in Residence' from September onwards which I know will add another dimension to our life at school.
Our strengths at Lavant House extend beyond the artistic to the spoken and written word. Our achievements in the Debating and Public Speaking fields have been notable and Amy Clarke and Holly Edwards deserve a particular mention. So too does Eleni Kolios who won second prize in the Jane Austen writing competition in May. We now have both senior and junior debating teams and the whole school enjoys an inter-house debate.
Our achievements in sport have been equally formidable. Our netball teams continue to strike a note of terror on the local circuit, so successful have they been, in both the junior and senior schools. Our under 11s have played 16 matches and two tournaments over the year, winning all but one of their matches and and winning one tournament (thrillingly in extra time) and coming second in the other. Our senior teams have won 5 out of 6 area netball tournaments and Libby Swan was selected for the under 14 area satellite squad, training regularly throughout the year. Our rounders teams have enjoyed a huge degree of success this year too, the juniors have won every match so far! And our success at the area athletics was superb, with some truly outstanding results particularly for a school of our size, and some super wins in tennis and tag rugby too. Both our senior and junior sports days this year were a joy - congratulations to all involved.
Of course, public examination results are always important in any school although I would argue that they are only part of the education of the individual child. Last summer we were delighted with our results - 100% pass rate at 'A' level with 78% of the grades being at A or B. All of our girls went off to the university of their choice and in a diverse range of subjects from Medicine to Media. Our GCSEs were no less impressive and we are delighted for the girls whose achievements will open doors for them for the next stage of their education and pleased too for the staff who care so much about teaching their specialist subjects.
Our entire Sixth Form should be congratulated for their excellent efforts to raise money for charity. They made this a personal mission and they will certainly be a tough act to follow. The School Council and all of the houses have benefited too from their leadership under the guidance of Head Girl, Holly Edwards, and School Council leader, Carla Edney.
Another group in the school who deserve the utmost congratulation for their tireless efforts to raise money are our Parent and Friends Association under the guidance of Mrs Susan Osborn. Given the small size of our school, they raise an enormous amount of money and help the school in so many different ways. Thank you one and all.
In February we were visited by a representative from the Good Schools' Guide, a publication that can only be entered via parental recommendation. Christine Jefferson, the representative from the Good Schools' Guide, greeted me with the news that the Headmaster of Eton was trying to contact her, because of her criticisms of his boarding facilities and thus began a somewhat stressful day. However I knew that our report was going to be fine when she phoned me the next day about a possible place for the daughter of a friend. How fine I couldn't have guessed - it really exceeded all expectations - and I do commend it to you either on line now or in hard copy from November.
I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. Lavant House educates some of the loveliest girls in West Sussex and has a fantastic staff. It is the people that make any organisation and I really do think that everyone has gone that extra mile this year. Our domestic, maintenance, grounds, transport, administrative, bursary, teaching, peripatetic, boarding, Old Girls' Co-ordinator and support staff have been absolutely brilliant and I would ask you to join me in thanking them.
I would also like to make a special mention of our governors, under the chairmanship of Mrs Pauline Senior, who have been an absolute tower of strength to me this year. They are all volunteers and yet carry great responsibilities on their shoulders. There are many governors meetings over the course of the academic year as well as other functions and activities and we are lucky indeed that our governors are prepared to give so freely of their time and expertise.
Sadly some of our staff will be retiring this year and we say goodbye and thank you to Mr Ward, Mrs Blows and Mrs Street, wishing them every happiness and a long retirement. Amy Kyffin will be leaving the boarding house to start her nursing career and our Gap student Catherine will be starting her PGCE in September. Mrs Goodens becomes our Artist in Residence. We wish them well and extend our good wishes to those girls leaving our school community and starting new schools or their first term at university or college. Please come back and see us and keep us up to date with your news and progress.
The future of the school is tremendous. Our pupil numbers are strong and for the first time in a very long time we have waiting lists in place for some of our years. I plan to consolidate and extend our achievements over the coming years and build a school here at Lavant House which is second to none. In 2012 we will be celebrating our diamond anniversary and I anticipate with pleasure many exciting events that year to mark such a very special occasion.
When Dora Green founded Lavant House in 1952 with five little girls, I very much doubt that she could have envisaged the growth, success and popularity of the school today. Lavant House retains many of the traditions of the past but has combined them with a modern and forward thinking approach. Good mannered, well-rounded girls but girls who are prepared and confident to face the challenges that lie ahead.
I will leave you, as I began, with a quotation. We seem to spend a great deal of time discussing periods in our life as journeys, journeys which move us on in some way as individuals. The novelist Angela Carter however perhaps more wisely wrote "The destination of all journeys is their beginning".
For more information please contact Lavant House School via our contact form, or you can request a prospectus