Rhubarb 2020

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

PRESIDENT’S WELCOME David Smart (C, 1968-1972)

W E L C O M E

F irstly, I want to say how very honoured and humbled I am to be elected as President of the Society. I shall certainly endeavour to give my very best in being of service to the Society and the School. I would also like

David was a pupil at Teddies from 1968 to 1972. His daughter Lucy (K, 2001-2003) and son Tim (C, 2001-2006) also attended. He has been a member of the St Edward’s School Society Committee over four decades, serving as Midlands Secretary and Vice President and in July 2020 he became President of the Society, taking over from Charles Cooper (G, 1961-1966). He has been a specialist leadership and management training consultant for a number of years as well as owning a holiday business in the Cotswolds.

to say how immensely impressed I have been with the way the School has continued with the educational process in these circumstances. The adaptability and flexibility required

has been huge. Great teachers have a sense of duty, passion and kindness. They make learning contagious. I love the Benjamin Franklin quote “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”. We are certainly going to face further challenges. As the

I should like to say how immensely

impressed I have been with the way the School has continued with the educational process in these circumstances

to pay tribute to my predecessor Charles

Cooper who has done so much for the School and the Society. It has been a great pleasure being Charles’s deputy – and indeed

saying goes “welcome to the new normal.” I cannot overstate the great leadership displayed during this period by the Warden, Sub-Warden, Tony Darby, Deputy Head Academic, Matthew Albrighton, and the Bursar, Edward Hayter – the last of those having had an extraordinary baptism of fire, only joining the School on 1st January. This autumn will see the opening of the new Quad Development. It was Warden Simeon’s vision 125 years ago that the Quad would be completed in this way and we owe the utmost gratitude to the 13th Warden, Stephen Jones, who, during his ten-year tenure, grasped that vision and will leave us next year with the Quad finally complete. This has been an outstanding achievement by the Warden and his team. It puts Teddies in a strong position for future years and I have no doubt we are going to become an even more prestigious co-educational school because of his vision. I am also, of course, very pleased and honoured to be able to welcome the 14th Warden Alastair Chirnside, who is currently Deputy Head Master at Harrow. He will start in September 2021. Alastair was brought up in Oxford and attended The Dragon, winning a scholarship from

my grateful thanks go out to those past Presidents who have already given me so much support and encouragement. We have been going through unprecedented times. I should like

The Quad 2020

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