On the last day of term, parents of the departing Upper Sixth pupils joined Senior School pupils in the Cathedral to hear The Head deliver a heartfelt and moving address for the end of the academic year...

"I should like to add my welcome and congratulations to everyone with us today, both the pupils for completing another academic year, as well as parents and carers of the departing Upper Sixth who are here to share this memorable occasion. And, of course, to check that they do actually leave. For our adult visitors, this is a glimpse of the school’s normal routine, though the refurbishment of the organ has meant this term that we have held our assemblies in the equally historic cloister. This makes it a particular pleasure to be allowed to use the Cathedral for our final service of the year.

It is inevitable that we reflect at this time on what we have completed, both individually and collectively. From my perspective as Head, I can point to many academic, sporting, creative and other co-curricular successes. After all, it takes us two presentation assemblies at the end of each term to get through everything; a lot of clapping. Yet, without question, I get most pleasure from the sense that we are a happy community, with positive relationships among and between pupils, parents and teachers. You will have heard me say before that this triangle is at the heart of a good school. It is not perfect, of course; we are a community of nearly 1000 teenagers and even some of the adults do not always see eye to eye. Present company excepted, of course. Yet to witness the friendly and supportive atmosphere on Lower Close yesterday during Sports Day is to see a school in good form: huge amounts of effort and talent among both boys and girls, a healthy dose of friendly rivalry (and that is just the Heads of House), but all within a framework of support and common purpose.

There has been a similarly positive atmosphere in the many Gather events in recent weeks. Standards were impressively and consistently high, thanks to the painstaking hours of rehearsals and careful preparation, seemingly regardless of the age of the pupils or artistic medium in question. It is just a joy to watch pupils gaining valuable experiences and establishing rich memories.

When you get to my advancing age, your perspective about what is memorable and lasting changes. One of the reasons that I am so keen on the holistic education we provide here is that I know that it is more likely you will remember the play you were in, the wicket that you took, the community service project that you joined rather than the routine lessons and lunches, tasty though they are. It is partly the very novelty that makes such activities memorable, the sense of the one-off, but it is also who you do them with, the cementing of friendships that will last beyond school. I wonder what your most vivid memory is of the year.

Such thoughts are particularly in my mind today because our focus is on our leavers, the Upper Sixth cohort directly in front of me. You particularly will have been reflecting since the end of A Levels on things you will be sorry (and pleased) to leave behind. At the end of the service, you will process out of the great West doors, shaking the Head’s hand as you symbolically make the transition from school to the wider world beyond. It is one of the highlights of my year.

What will our leavers and, in due course, other year-groups take with them, not just in terms of memories but values and attitudes? In answering the question, I should like to draw on some of my most vivid recent memories:

• The first was another handshake moment, this time the Lower School Prizegiving at the end of June. Asia Lambert (ON), a civil servant who works as the Prime Minister’s travel manager in No 10, was the guest of honour and she had to contend with both hands, no hands, the wrong hand, and what can only be described as the handshake-in motion; for those of you who know chess, it might be called the handshake en-passant. What was striking was how much you could tell about the pupils in a few seconds by the way they met the Principal Guest and collected their prize. For what it is worth, my firm memory was that it is all in the eyes during the approach.

• Another such episode was the Fashion Show, with the Lower Sixth making their debut as catwalk models, something many of the Upper Sixth will remember from last year. Never has walking from A to B and back again seemed such a challenge as when you are wearing someone else’s clothes and have a room full of people watching you. Some are naturals, of course, but more have to overcome some inner turmoil before they can own that walk. I doubt many will forget it.

• Next: we had a day for our alumni at school last Saturday and the ON vicar taking the service approached me with about 90 seconds to go to tell me that I would be reading the lesson if nobody volunteered. I obviously agreed, but not without trepidation as I like to prepare, just in case there is some unpronounceable biblical name. Like any good leader, I thought, “Delegation”, so I told Alastair Wyllie, Parker House Captain, in the ranks of the choir that he would be volunteering. Graciously, he agreed and did a much better job than I would have done. However, what I reflected on was that of the 11 remaining pupils and 4 recent alumni in that Chamber Choir, I could have “required” any one of them to volunteer and am confident that they would have acquitted themselves just as well.

• Undoubtedly, my favourite memory of the year came on the Able2B Discover Your Ability day, which we hosted on Lower Close in the middle of June. Our pupils are paired up with young people who have physical disabilities to complete together a circuit on bike and/or by running. The race started and partners moved off at different speeds. However, as the field left the gate by the Scout Hut to go on the path down by the river before looping back past Pull’s Ferry to re-enter Lower close by the Ferry Lane Garages gate, a year 9 pupil with her partner, Tyler, had covered about 10 metres. Tyler is a female primary school pupil who can walk slowly if someone else supported her weight by holding hands above Tyler’s head. I assumed they would walk for a while but be stopped at some point on grounds of fatigue, boredom or simple timing. The lap around the outside of Lower School Field must have taken 30 minutes but, with nobody else watching or accompanying, the pupil patiently held both Tyler’s hands and they got round. As they re-entered Lower Close and neared the finish line, the large crowd got behind Tyler and the Able2Be professionals took over. Our pupil moved unobtrusively to the background as she accompanied Tyler to the end. It was a glorious example of understated, uncomplicated assistance which spoke volumes about her commitment to her partner.

So, why these seemingly random examples? Well, they may seem unconnected but together they show our approach to life when people are watching but, more importantly, when they are not. Once could say the same about walking out to bat, running a relay leg (especially when you know your team is not going to win), even just standing in a lunch queue.

Together, they help to form the answer of what I hope our leavers today leave with, the attitudes and qualities which they will take with them because they have been to Norwich School. I hope there is a desire to be a force for good in the world. And I hope that you will set about this, each in your own unique way, with a kindness and gentle confidence in what you say and what you do, as well as in how you say it and how you do it. A calm, understated self-assurance in how you carry yourself as you face the inevitably mixed fortunes of life will do much both for you, those around you and the wider world.

I close with a quote from Daniel Moult, a concert organist, whose tips on dealing with stress were shared with staff at a CPD event earlier this term. He said, “Performing freely is really a shift of mindset – from a desire to prove [oneself] to a desire to share something special”. This seems to me also to apply to the leavers who today complete a Norwich School education. I would not want you to use what you have learned here simply to prove yourselves or get a competitive advantage. Rather, I hope you will use it to spread our values of love, compassion and inclusion more broadly. I believe you have experienced something special in Cathedral Close, both individually and collectively. We could not be more proud of you, so now go out and share it with the world. Upper Sixth, congratulations on all you have achieved here and do stay in touch!"