I finish this term as I started it with words from Martin Luther King:
‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
One of the many things that I adore about Oxford High School has been the strong sense of social and political activism that runs through everything we do. I have been awestruck by the different ways that our pupils have proposed, acted, supported and followed through on ‘good works’ to help others. These last weeks alone have seen a Peace Week for Ukraine with Zumba sessions to support an orphanage in Ukraine with a unique family connection to a member of our staff as well as ‘splat the teacher’ sessions for a charity which supports those in the LGBTQ+ community who are homeless. Our Sixth Form pupils wrote a letter asking for donations for Ukraine to the Senior School to which so many of you have responded so generously and the Pre-Prep and Prep school has a classroom bursting with products – thank you. I know, as so many of you have shared your feelings with me that one of the reasons that we love this school is because it looks outward, and is determined to do all it can to engage and support the community whether local, national or global.
As service is concerned I would also like, here, to pay tribute to the extraordinary service and devotion that my assistant Mrs Jenny Biggs has dedicated to Oxford High School. Having started over 18 years ago in the Prep School, she has supported a plethora of Heads (I’m not sure what the collective noun would be!). Her tact, diplomacy and discretion has been exemplary and her skill with a quiet word and gentle persuasion and encouragement to help others is gentle and yet, gently persistent. She is a very talented poet having won the ‘Poet in the Hat’ competition Staff award a number of times and loved the school so much that she sent both her daughters here – commitment certainly as well as balancing the demands of being both a staff member and a parent with poise and grace. She will be missed and yet I also know that she’s off to have fun and engage with new adventures and experiences. I have never met someone who has so completely exemplified a renaissance woman. There is so much on her horizon learning more about History of Art – an abiding passion, to exploring the world. I know that you will join with me in wishing her a fulfilling retirement; she will be much missed here at Oxford High and we are so grateful to her for her service and connection to our community.
Yesterday too we held a celebration of the service that Year 13 have given to the school: running clubs, conferences, representing the school in teams, academic competitions, character, leading the school in so many ways. I am intensely aware of how lucky we all are, to turn a tap for water, have hot food provided to us in school and the privilege of a great education where there are young women parading the streets in Afghanistan asking for teaching and people in Mariupol who are desperate for basic sustenance. That is not to say, of course, that our students have it easy. I think the pressure that they put on themselves and the commensurate anxieties of a pandemic weigh heavily but the mere fact that so many get up and still provide something for others is a shining tribute to their resilience and charity.
So as the Spring sunshine beckons I wish you all a restful and relaxing holiday
With warmest wishes,
Marina Gardiner Legge
Headmistress