Final Collect 2023

Our last day of the year was marked with a poignant Final Collect marked by new beginnings and the end of an era.

The School’s longest-serving member of staff, Mark Simmonds, marked his final Collect after a remarkable 43 years of dedicated service to the School. In tribute, the School has created the Mark Simmonds Trophy, which will be awarded to the House that gains the most merits over an academic year. The new shield was designed and created by the DT Department, with DT and Engineering Scholars demonstrating incredible skills and craft. The new trophy was well-timed, arriving at the end of the first full year of the new House system, with Bentsi-Enchill, Cadbury, Fox and Tubman all vying for top spot, through House Community, Charity and Competition events. Cadbury gleefully gained the bragging rights of winning the shield in its inaugural year.

Final Collect was opened by Taylor in Year 9 playing a beautiful Alto Sax piece written by OL Rodney Bennett. It was then straight into the awards.

The School’s STEAM academic approach was much in evidence in the first wave of awards. The Gillmor Award recognises students who have shown a strong connection with nature and art in a way that represents the whole of STEAM, through the mediums of music composition, photos, paintings or digital art. Jack (Year 12) and Alana (Year 9) were highly commended with Oscar and Marcus (Year 10) scooping the top spot for their “Mesmeric” soundscape. Acknowledgement was given to students who had achieved impressive results in external competitions. Alana (Year 9) achieved Runner Up and four students achieving Highly Commended in the international Young Minds category of the prestigious Minds Underground Essay Competition, while Harriet (Year 12) gained a Special Mention in the Engineering Innovation Challenge.

The Fryer Project Qualification (FPQ) Awards were presented to our hard working Year 8s who put six months of effort into their research, expo and presentations – demonstrating impressive scholarship, academic rigour and interdisciplinary learning. There were five overall winners with Kimberley, Rufus, Chloe, Annabel and Maria all achieving the very highest standards.

Rose presented a review of the year, highlighting students’ successes in Music, including the our Bassoon quintet, Reuben (Year 7), Alice (Year 9), Rebecca (Year 11), Sian and Eloise (Upper Sixth) achieving 1st place in the ISA Bands Competition and Eliza (Year 11) winning the national composition award for KS4/5 and Finnbar (Upper Sixth) coming 2nd.

Our Sports Leaders in Years 10 and Lower Sixth were presented with their national awards, acknowledging their coaching and leadership skills. Examples of their leadership included organising the first national ISA Inclussive Sports Festival, the STEAMFest day for 300 local primary school children, teaching swimming to pupils from the Ridgeway Primary and supporting their sports day. Our Duke of Edinburgh Certificates were presented with all sections completing their awards by the end of the year. The Chris Ireland Award is presented to the Leighton Park student who demonstrates courage, perseverance and determination; or ‘Living Adventurously’. The award is named after a former Housemaster and his son John was there to present the award to Alastair (Lower Sixth). Dance awards were presented to students who had achieved 6 or above in their NATD grades, with special mention to Katie (Year 9) for her national recognition in the NATD Theatrical Dance competition. Katie will go to the finals in Birmingham in October.

The JB Fryer Award was presented to Rohan and Charlotte (Year 8) for demonstrating the values of Fryer House and being exceptional role models for our Year 7s. Niamh (Year 10) won the Global Perspectives Award for her achievement in this project-based and interdisciplinary subject. The Matthew Pott Changemaker Award is in memory of a former student and was presented by his mother, Wendy, to Will (Upper Sixth) for his legacy of kindness and community spirit.

Simon presented a review of our students’ sporting achievements. In Cricket our U13 and U15 girls had particularly successful seasons, reaching the county finals, with the U15 boys also reaching the County Cup semi final. Students also represented their Houses in the rugby, tennis and athletics competitions this term. The Richard Coleman Shield was awarded to Cadbury House this year, following a strong showing across all the sports competitions, with Tubman hot on their heals.

Our students enjoyed athletics successes across multiple competitions, including the Reading Town Athletics competition, the Berkshire Schools Combined Events Championships and the Berkshire County Championships, where Mia, Iris, Youssef, Charlie, Joseph, Jacob and Ted were all selected to represent Reading. Special mentions must go to Mia (Year 8), who won the Berkshire Schools Combined Events Championships, and Youssef  (Year 9), who represented Berkshire at the English Schools Athletics Championships in the 300 metres as is now in the top 20 in England.

The Sissons Cup for excellence in co-curricular went to Tubman House, who also picked up the Merit Cup, while Cadbury scooped the Castle Trophy for achievement.

Pictures from Final Collect can be seen in our Flickr gallery: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjALpQM