Rhubarb Issue 12: November 2023

ST EDWARD’S

There have been many changes and new initiatives in the last two years: our first Oxford Lectures to bring more visiting academics into the School, the first Oxford Days for the teaching departments, the postgraduate students working with our pupils and teachers as St Edward’s Fellows, the launch of Teddies Collaborates to make service universal in the Lower Sixth.We have invested in new facilities for sport, in technology for learning and teaching, and in updating the older boarding houses.

WARDEN’S WELCOME

There are many more changes in prospect: we have exciting plans to develop our facilities on the Field Side; we are introducing new exchanges in India, America and Australia for pupils and for staff; we are teaching our pupils and learning ourselves about artificial

Teddies Collaborates

intelligence; we are hosting our first careers festivals; we are going back to the future as we restart bumping races in rowing, sports day in athletics and house plays in drama; and we are looking forward to growing the membership of the Cup & Dagger Club.

Among all those points of focus, there is one constant: the community in which pupils at Teddies grow up, in which they develop the friendships which will take them to the highest points in their lives and help them through the lowest.The School will be a point of reference for them throughout their lives, as I hope it has been for you.This edition of Rhubarb is part of our work to keep you in touch with your school and with each other.

I have resisted the temptation in this introduction to write about the history which the Boat Club made at Henley, with two girls’ crews racing and the boys’ 1st VIII winning the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for the fifth time in the School’s history. I have written and talked about it almost everywhere else, and there are plenty of pages devoted to it in this edition.The magic of that Sunday in July did not, however, happen only on the water.The crew’s success brought hundreds of people together in celebration: OSE, pupils, staff and parents, both past and present. New friendships were forged on the water, many more were renewed on the bank.The same was true in every area of School life last year: on the pitch and on the touchline, on the stage and in the audience, in studios and exhibitions, in departments and inHouses. Friendship is the most important lesson to learn at school, and it has been learnt well for generations at Teddies.That is the secret of the School’s success in the past, and it is the foundation of its future. I hope that you enjoy this edition of Rhubarb and that it will help you to renew your friendship with the School and with each other.

New friendships were forged on the water, many more were renewed on the bank.

All those grades, lessons and experiences are important, but it is the friendships from their time at school which last longest, which take them furthest and which matter most for them to lead happy and fulfilling lives.

5