Abingdonian 2018

64 The Abingdonian Leavers’ Day Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is one of those moments when we can stop to look back on our experiences and look forwards to the future. At Abingdon, day-to-day life is incredibly busy, with all of us engaged in a healthy mix of activities, so it might therefore feel strange and unfamiliar to just stop for a few seconds and reflect. This is a valuable chance for us to consider what we have achieved in the past years and will go on to do in the years to come. Hopefully we are all enjoying what is really a celebration of our time here, and revelling in the mystery and uncertainty that facing the future brings. Within the departing Upper Sixth there is a great variety of interests and qualities. In the time I have now I cannot begin to do justice to even the smallest proportion of what we as a year group do. Be it on the river, solving abstract equations, on the rugby pitch, as a flautist, kicking a football, in the orchestra, debating, charities committee - the list goes on. We also have a real assortment of different cultures, from several continents, and many more different perspectives on life, but somehow we make up one whole that is much much more than the simple sum of its parts. As we take our different paths in the next stage of our lives, it is this cohesion that now holds our year group together. We are greatly indebted to all the teachers here, who have always supported us when we were struggling, inspired us when we were looking to push ourselves, and taught us to both question what we learn and be adaptable as we prepare for life beyond school. They have shaped the ambitions and abilities of all of us sitting here today. On behalf of the whole Upper Sixth I’d like to thank all the staff. In addition, we would not be here today, of course, without our parents, and so it is only right that they celebrate and enjoy this moment here with us. So there are those who have made such large impressions on each one of us as individuals, but there are also those who, equally importantly, play essential roles in supporting the entire school community. Without these foundations our learning would have been so much more of a challenge. So thank you to all those working tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the school running. I would like especially to extend thanks to Mr Dawswell, to Ben Hall and to the entire prefect team this past year, for the many hours of work they have put in keeping the school operating smoothly and efficiently, and to the Head for being in control of it all. I wish the new team of prefects and Heads of School best of luck for the forthcoming academic year. It goes without saying that we are by no means leaving the school community – we will be Abingdonians for life, as part of the OA club, but also because we will have all taken on one aspect or another of the Abingdon ethos. I am going to finish by returning to what I earlier termed the cohesion within our year group. The basis of this is simple – it is the friendships that have developed amongst us. These will be the active legacy of our time here at Abingdon. So treasure them and nurture them, as we move onto new challenges in our lives. Thank you. Patrick McCubbin, 7KL