Welcome back to the second half of term, and I hope that Spring is truly in the air and that the half term break was restorative for all.
This season always feels like one of transformation – and that transformation is of course the heart of education – and is so evident in a number of the stories that follow and in the events of recent weeks at the College. It speaks to the life-changing endeavours of Charities Term. We can see this in the transformation effected upon individual pupils. Recent weeks have seen two of our Upper Sixth preaching in Chapel: speaking abut their experience; their faith; the way this – and their time at Lancing – has shaped and transformed them. To have the confidence and indeed the wisdom to lead the school’s worship and reflection in this manner is impressive indeed and the series of pupil sermons that spans the year is a transforming experience for so many.
Likewise, the concert put together by Isaac H for Holocaust Memorial Day saw music last performed in the ghettos and concentration camps of Poland in the 1940s brought to life and to a Lancing audience; performed by Lancing students and arising from an EPQ project which researched and recovered and then brought back to life the music of the camps. The resulting concert was one unlike any other – both witness and memorial, and the fact that this was the work of a Lower Sixth pupil was deeply impressive.
We were delighted to welcome 75 Year 6 pupils from nearly 20 Prep and Primary Schools to an action-packed Advance Programme Familiarisation and Assessment Day in mid-January. It was wonderful to see pupils working together (in DT, Electronics, at Scout Games and in a Treasure Hunt) and thinking critically in both a written task and interview, and to look forward to many of these children joining us in Year 9. This is generally after those truly transformative years 7 and 8 in their Prep Schools.
We see children joining us into Year 9 with that experience of leadership, trust, an exciting and developmental curriculum, the deep knowledge of their staff, who are full of quiet confidence, aware of their abilities and resilient. Year 7 and 8 in the Prep School environment are golden years indeed, and sow the seed for the transformation from child to adult which lies at the core of their Lancing journey.
With best wishes for a transformative term,
Hilary Dugdale
Director of Admissions
