This document presents verbatim the speech given by Headmaster Dr Gary Savage to those Alleyn’s pupils, parents and friends assembled at Speech Day 2018, which took place at St. Barnabas Church, Dulwich, on Saturday 30 June 2018. The text may include references to performances or presentations that took place during the ceremony. SPEECH DAY 2018 Chairman, distinguished guests, Governors, Ladies, Gentlemen and prize‐winners: it is my pleasure to report for the eighth time as Headmaster here at Speech Day. Today’s celebration of our wonderful prize‐winners also affords an opportunity to reflect upon what has been, by any measure, an exceptionally good year for the School. We have enjoyed record‐breaking public examination results, record numbers of applications, an emphatically positive ISI inspection and innumerable personal and collective achievements by the girls and boys in our care. We have completed the new Lower School building, and enhanced many other areas of the School site. The new website is close to completion, and will much better reflect the contemporary energy and breadth of co‐educational excellence which the School offers today. I am confident that all new teachers and expert support staff that we have worked hard to select from exceptionally strong fields across the past few months will enable us to continue to build on this positive trajectory as we enter our 400th anniversary year in 2019. We can do so with both pride and confidence, but also the humility to recognise that things can always be done even better ‐ which is precisely what we shall aim to do in all the years ahead. The academic foundations could not be stronger. Last year, the prodigious efforts of our boys and girls led to record‐breaking results overall, with 99% A*AB at GCSE (with 68% A*) and 93% A*AB at A Level (with 41% A*). They were a brilliant, hard‐working group, who ‐ if I may indulge my inner Southgate for a moment ‐ positioned 1 themselves to make excellent transitions. In other words, 93% of our Leavers went on to a university of their choice across the length and breadth of Britain. Nine went on to Art College (and as you’ll see in the Art, Design and Media Show today, plenty more could easily follow in their footsteps), twelve went to Medical School, two to the USA, two to Canada and one to Trinity College Dublin. I think this high quality of academic outcomes, and this range of prestigious and global destinations, attests to what we are trying to build here: a commitment to excellence across the disciplines (arts and sciences, applied and creative) and an openness to the wider world and to other cultures. Rooted as we are in the history and outlook of one of the world’s most cosmopolitan and connected cities, how could it be otherwise? Those qualities of connectedness and openness, that sense of being a welcoming centre of excellence, helps to attract visiting speakers to the School in a virtuous circle of academic enthusiasm and aspiration. Notable examples from around fifty different educational talks this year include ninety‐three year old Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker‐Wallfisch; Professor Sugata Mitra, who has brought internet access to over a million children in some of the poorest parts of India, economist Dr Yaron Brook from the Ayn Rand Institute and artist and author Edmund de Waal, who gave the opening address at this year’s Summer Show. The Edward Alleyn Lecture this year was given by Dr Suzannah Lipscomb on the Reformation in England, while the RV Jones Science Lecturer was Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive & Computational Neuroscience at Sussex. Earlier this week, BBC news presenter Huw Edwards gave the plenary address at the annual Modern Foreign Languages extension day, with topics ranging from German film to Spanish football. (Plans to include a masterclass in how to tackle a tournament like die Mannschaft were wisely abandoned.) The insights such visitors afford, and the discussions they stimulate, contribute to a whole‐school culture of inquiry nurtured in departments, in our Alleyn’s Learners’ Programme, in Upper School Enrichment and in a plenitude of trips at home and 2 abroad through which every pupil benefits, and many truly excel. Ella, for instance, received an Excellence Award from the Royal Geographical Society for the highest GCSE mark last year. Safiyah won the Governor’s Research Project Prize for her philosophical study into whether Beauty and Truth are connected and, if so, what is the Truth that Artistic Beauty conveys?; while the Headmaster’s Review Prize (for pupils moving from Year 9 to 10) was won by Kitty on The Globe’s production of Romeo and Juliet. In Design and Technology, Ruby won the inaugural Lord Mayor of London Design Challenge with her superb desk lamp, while Zoe was awarded an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship. In Modern Foreign Languages, Nick and Dan won the inter‐schools Spanish debating competition (including a motion on whether to abolish private education); while Sam has just taken French, German, Latin, Italian and Spanish GCSE having successfully done Russian and Classical Greek last year! Other students doing remarkable things for the love of it include Ella, who was a winner in the Foyles Young Poetry award, Cameron, who won this year’s Science Fame Lab competition, and our very first cohort of off‐timetable GCSE Astronomers. I would also like to mention Elizabeth and Alba in Year 12, who set up the new Alleyn’s Radio Show and recorded a dozen high‐quality programmes over the course of the year. Countless other boys and girls have been sent by their teachers to sign the Headmaster’s Book for Outstanding Achievement at morning break ‐ always a highlight of my day, though not necessarily of theirs! By no means all those who come to sign my book do so for academic reasons; on the contrary, many do so because of superb achievements in our wide‐ranging co‐ curriculum. Many do great things in the Combined Cadet Force, for instance, which continues to evolve, implementing new and improved syllabuses across all services and receiving fulsome accolades in a recent MoD inspection. Our Rifle Team beat Dulwich College at the London Cadet Skill‐at‐Arms meeting, and will compete in the National Schools Meeting at Bisley this summer. The Year 11 Cadre demonstrated their brilliantly choreographed ceremonial drill routine at their pass out parade with 3 precision and panache. The CCF also continues to support the community at Remembrance Sunday, has survived in sub‐zero temperatures in Sweden and has produced another army scholar: Sam, who will undertake officer training at Sandhurst. Two other students are currently at the selection board, and Nick has been awarded a Cadet Deputy Lord Lieutenant’s certificate for his CCF service. It has been another excellent year for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, too, with almost two hundred participants making it the biggest ever cohort in our forty‐one years of involvement. Natasha, Matilda, Saskia, Florie, Isabel and Hannah were the 19‐24th Alleyn’s students to complete their Gold Award while still at School; and 17 past and present Gold award holders gathered at Buckingham Palace to celebrate this achievement in May. Volunteering at Alleyn’s has also expanded markedly in recent years, with activities working both with children and elderly people. Fun Fizz, for instance, takes place at The Bridge Leisure Centre in Sydenham, where our pupil volunteers help to provide physical activities for children with learning or behavioural difficulties in a true spirit of friendship. A similar spirit can be seen in the Senior Saints option, where our pupils chat with the sometimes very frail residents of The Elms Centre in East Dulwich; and in the Sweet Readers scheme where Year 8 pupils spend quality time with elderly people living with dementia. Our Outreach programme is also growing, with over seventy Year 12 students delivering a series of lessons to pupils in seven local state primary schools. Topics range from Abstract Art and Animation to Health and Fitness, Drama, Dance and Science. In addition to our well‐established Rhythm for Reading literacy project at Goodrich Primary School, these varied initiatives are making a real difference to local children and a real impact in their schools. I am proud of what so many of our pupils do for and in the community, and proud too of what the School is able to offer as an institution. The sharing of resources with local state schools and community organisations has increased significantly; this year our 4 facilities are used for over 1000 hours involving around 4000 children and adults. Local schools use our facilities to host weekly PE and swimming lessons, forest school activities, sports days, end of term‐productions and music courses. Since January we have provided pitches on Saturday mornings to the Lambeth and Southwark Primary School Football League in which 35 local schools compete. During the year we also partnered with Solidarity Sports, a charity working directly with children affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and Resources for Autism. The genuine impact of such work was highlighted in September at a national educational event in Westminster attended by the Secretary of State and other members of parliament. David in Year 12 was one of two students to address the gathering about his positive experiences at an independent school like Alleyn’s. We have also continued our long‐standing involvement in the Southwark Schools Learning Partnership, taking the lead on around twenty‐five initiatives including a joint expedition to CERN in Geneva. Our Saturday Maths Scheme ‐ part of the Southwark Community Education Charity ‐ is also flourishing.