This Sunday celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Queen’s succession. Whether you are a royalist or a republican the extraordinary dignity and dedication of the Queen to public service has been exemplary. I will never forget the poignancy of her solitary watch at her husband’s funeral and the way that she exemplifies with her family the constant and unceasing contradiction between the individual and the body politic.
Here at Oxford High School (in a more humble and typically sparky fashion) power has transferred too. It’s strange to remember that this time last year we did all this remotely, being socially distanced, wearing masks or observing via a screen, and the lack of warmth and human connection served to emphasise our isolation from one another. How far we have come.
Yesterday morning, having been serenaded on the flute by Bryony (and how lovely to have live music playing our students into assemblies once more), the outgoing Head Girl and Prefect team, all dressed in fairy outfits according to their chosen theme danced in to ‘Hakuna Matata’ followed by the incoming Year 12 team processing to ‘Rocky’ while wearing the most wonderful assorted headgear. They signed the Prefect book which has been kept in a succession of volumes since the school was founded in 1876, and then sat next to their equivalent Prefect in the year above. The outgoing Prefects gave Prefect and Sunflower badges to the incoming team members, pinning them on, and thus power transfers whether via a sceptre or a sunflower badge. I have already met once with the new team of prefects and I am really excited by their energy and vision for the school; there will be time for that.
Here though I wish to celebrate the outgoing team who have led the school extraordinarily well through a really difficult time. Despite lockdown they conducted surveys and remote meets to ensure that they captured as many voices as they could, they have contributed to the ongoing movements in school on diversity, sustainability and pupil voice and have, additionally, kindly inducted a new Head. They have been honest, open, impeccably well organised and fiercely proud of their school as well as very individual and vital people who have inspired a whole new group of younger students who now want to be just like them. As they pass the cup on I know the incoming team will continue to build on the progress we have made so far and continue to lead the school in true High School style, with courage, truth and a willingness to have a go at anything and to lead from the front, for the benefit of the whole community.
These are indeed exciting times.
With warmest wishes,
Marina Gardiner Legge
Headmistress
Outgoing Prefects 2021 – 2022
Leila Branfoot
Lizzie Caird Head Girl
Aisling Dynes
Amy King Deputy Head Girl
Lili Myers
Alina Nishat GDST Student Council Representative
Alice Potter
Isabella Potter
Anna Townsend
Mika Tse
Shreya Verma
Eleanor Voak Chair of School Council
Incoming Prefects 2022 – 2023
India Beighton
Tia Dariza GDST Student Council Representative
Olivia Fifer
Bobby Green Gonzalez
Annabel Jones
Eunsong Kang
Georgia Knowlden
Katherine Lackenby Head Girl
Bella Myers
Michaela Shakespeare
Lucy Turner Deputy Head Girl
Jess Wraight Chair of School Council
Ad Lucem