The end of the school year

We had another full day at school - it started off with the final chapel service at 10am, followed by prize giving and speeches. Each year prizes are awarded by year group (Thomas got the orchestra prize) and then three top achievers of the leavers are chosen to present a talk. The first boy chosen is going on to read Architecture at Cambridge and he spoke about what architecture means to him. The second boy is going on to read Theology and Religious Studies at Cambridge and he delivered an outstanding speech on Democracy - it was flawlessly delivered, the content was funny, clever and fascinating, and he was one of the best speakers I have ever heard. The third boy has won a scholarship to study composition (of film music) at a US music school and he spoke about jazz, and then proceeded to play his jazzy composition of the school hymn - all three were utterly brilliant and we could only marvel at their talent. 

We then had a picnic lunch in the school gardens but as we were eating the black clouds rolled in and it came tipping down with rain. It was cold, windy and pretty miserable! We dried out when we went inside to hear the Symphony Orchestra perform all of Elgar's Enigma Variations, again, another amazing performance. This was followed by the Big Band playing jazz in the marquee, a photo of which I have shown here.

The weather was not in our favour today - this was the 7th time we have celebrated this day at this school, and it is the first time we have had such cool conditions with recurring sudden downpours.

Now the school holidays begin...oh dear!