We are all in this together!

We are all in this together!


SLT's view - 10 July 2020

SLT’s view – 10 July 2020

Another academic year over – one like no other in living memory. In conversation with a colleague a while ago, she commented, ‘there’s always something’, but we didn’t think she quite had this in mind.

So first of all we’d like to commend the girls for their efforts during lockdown. Some girls made the transition to remote learning seamlessly, for others, not coming into school was a real struggle. When we planned our remote learning provision, we knew that we had to build flexibility into the system, in order to accommodate girls’ and staff needs. It may interest you to know that surveys show that during the pandemic, men have been able to complete three hours of work compared to one hour for a woman where they are living with children. I think this says something of the burden of childcare still carried largely by women – and our staff body is overwhelmingly female. Please do view the Academic Showcase (coming shortly) and the Music Showcase, which show some of the work that Abbey girls have achieved, at your leisure over the next few weeks,

From September, we enter a new period in Abbey history – a new Head, our first male Head. We welcome Mr le Fleming to the Abbey. I know that his intention is to meet as many girls as possible in his first year and to get to know Abbey families. We are saying goodbye to some much loved teachers: we wish them well. Some are moving for promotions, or further study, two are retiring, some are ready for a change and a new challenge. And in their place we welcome new members of staff, who will bring with them new ideas and will breathe new life into the corridors and classrooms. We have been delighted with the calibre of applicants to The Abbey and it is clear that our reputation as a provider of outstanding education for girls is what draws exceptional teachers to the school.

One of the joys of lockdown has been seeing the girls in GMeets, whether academic or pastoral. I know that the teachers have particularly enjoyed this contact with their classes. From September, we are expecting to be back in school full-time, and although it won’t be exactly as it was in March, I hope it will be normal enough for us all to enjoy it, and to feel and be safe. We have had new guidance for schools and for parents (What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges in the autumn term) which will limit some of what we can do in schools. We are hoping to run clubs and activities, but we know that these will have to be done in year groups. Further government guidance is due out mid-August, so we will be in touch again after that.

Meanwhile, we hope that you have a good summer break, that the sun shines and the virus disappears.

With our continued best wishes,

Allison Hadwin, Brendan Fanning and Melanie Pople – Senior School Deputy Heads & SLT


Pause 4 Thought - 10 July 2020

Pause 4 Thought – 10 July 2020

As this is my final Gateway message to you, I hope you will allow me a slightly longer one than usual…….

Back in February, when we were midway through this academic year, I don’t think any of us could have foreseen that we would be ending it in this way, or under these circumstances. ‘Man plans, and God laughs!’ is an old saying, and one that has played through my mind many times over the last few months as, yet again, we have all had to change our plans, amend our expectations and adjust our schedules.

As a community, we all, teachers, school staff and parents, have a shared responsibility for our children. This means that the last few months have seen colleagues here in school work tirelessly to support our students, putting the wellbeing and learning of our students at the centre of all that we do. Consequently, they have acquired super-skills in filming, in Google/Seesaw; accommodated ever-changing plans resulting from ‘guidance’ emanating from DfE (usually at 3am on a Sunday!); reorganised classrooms; cleaned classrooms; juggled children and ‘bubbles’; found creative ways to offer our students a breadth of activities and a depth of support. Everyone has played their part in helping the School to navigate this time as well as possible and I know you will join me in thanking them all.

We are also very aware that this has been an enormously challenging time for many parents and families, and we in turn thank and salute you for the support you have given your daughters, at a time when many of you will have been under significant pressures. Every family has its own situation, anxieties and dynamic – consequently there is no ‘one size fits all’ or ‘right’ way through either remote learning or how/when to return to school. The choices that you have made will be those that you believe were best for you and your family, at that time. We respect that, just as you respect the complexities that we have needed to balance in running the School.

This period has raised some issues that concern me – for our students and for the world in which they are growing up:

  1. Lockdown has seen the role of women in the household regress in some ways back to the 1950s. Despite both parents being at home, a recent UK poll found that 72% of mothers became the default parent; 70% were responsible for homeschooling; for each hour of uninterrupted ‘work’ time a mother got, the father got three. We need to be aware of the messaging this sends to our daughters – the women of tomorrow.
  2. Polarisation – of so many types across the nation and within our school community: in school/not in school; furloughed/working; different levels of anxiety; able to access/engage with remote learning/unable to do so/disengaged; employed/unemployed; healthy/struggling with health issues. Even youth and age and ethnicity have become potential divisors.

3. Fear/anxiety around other people: lockdown saw understandable retrenchment to our homes and to us mixing with a very limited number. of people. ‘Social distancing, bubbles, shielding’ – a new vocabulary emerged, which we needed. But I am very aware that ‘coming out of lockdown’ is an anxious process for many. I also worry that those outside our immediate family/group etc are seen as a threat – whilst obviously ensuring their safety, we need to ensure our children don’t grow up scared of other people.

On behalf of our children, I feel that we all will need to take action to redress the balance and reduce the damage limitation from these issues..

On the other hand, I see some positives that have perhaps come from the last few weeks

1. We have all been prompted to consider what matters to us, and have had time to reflect. Maybe a chance for us all to remember what really matters – what have we missed? We hear recurrent themes: family, friends, being with people; nature; free movement outdoors; travel – new places; joining in communal activities – choirs, worship, etc; It is clear from the girls coming into school without a backwards glance that they have missed school!; and many people have missed going to work.

2. On a lighter note, many of us have spent less – on going out; gym memberships; holidays; even (but notably for me!) on tights!

3. Our enhanced use of Google Meet/Zoom/Team/Facetime etc has meant that we have in some ways got to know each other better. We’ve all had glimpses of homes/pets/flatmates etc, perhaps enabling us to see each other as human beings, not just as colleagues. It has also been good to see that some parents, who might struggle to get to a parents’ evening in school, were able to meet remotely with their daughter’s teacher.

4. We have a growing understanding that we are all connected to each other, whatever our race, nationality or faith. The virus has known no boundaries and we are each dependent on the actions of others. I hope that this will promote unity across the world.

Hold onto these.

When I reflect on my nine years at The Abbey Junior School, the last six as Head, I see physical changes in the school – the opening of Abbey Gardens, the refurbishing of the Science & ICT labs, the re-landscaping of Knell garden, and, recently, the wonderful extension of the original school building together with a new, open, face to the world. I have seen colleagues come and go – and I thank them all for everything they have done to support The Junior School. My thanks go also to Rachel Dent and to our governors who have acknowledged what a special part The Junior School is of The Abbey. It has been a delight to see hundreds of girls learn and develop over the years – particularly those whom I have been able to see go on to flourish at The Senior School and beyond. With those students, come you – their parents – and my thanks must of course go to you too for all that you do to support your daughters and our school community. Some of you I have come to know well over the years – I am particularly indebted to those of you who have acted as parent guides at Open Days, helped support Fun Runs and other events, supported the Christmas Fairs, acted as year group ambassadors, or offered me constructive feedback, perspectives and ideas. I know that you will continue to do so and your support and involvement will always be welcome.

At the year group meetings at the beginning of this year, back in September, you would have heard our ongoing commitment to promote an inquiry-based approach to learning, to enable collaboration and to promote international-mindedness. This will continue, as will what lies at our core – namely that learning and teaching is the life-blood of the School, and that we draw a distinction between learning and performing. We know that those students who establish strong foundations at the Junior School, becoming self-aware and engaged learners, are those that flourish in the years to come. We are privileged in being able to follow the majority of them through the Senior School, to university and beyond. We are educating our students for the long term – it is a long game, and we all need to keep a sense of perspective. I am very confident that Mrs Kaura will take the Junior School forward on the next step of its journey as part of The Abbey. She will be most ably supported by the team at The Junior School and by the new Executive Head of the School, Will le Fleming. I wish them very well.

I do not plan to take up another headship. I have an open mind with respect to ‘what next?’ but I expect it to involve coaching, counselling and consulting. I am also a governor at another independent school and am now a trained funeral celebrant. We shall see where life leads next………Masterchef has always been a dream??

Thank you for all your kind and generous words, gestures and gifts. I thought you would appreciate the photo above – my ‘Pants of Retrospective’, adorned with words from the girls, kindly given to me by some very wonderful parents.

So, to close, I must return to the children and young people who are the purpose of this job. It is they who give it meaning, and they who colour the fabric of the life of the School. It is to them that I go when I need my spirits lifting, need to be brought back to the present – or to escape with them into a world of imagination and wonder.

I finish, therefore, with the words of Kalil Gibran, which is my mantra – as a parent myself and as an educator.

On Children

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

by Khalil Gibran

My very best wishes to you all, now and always.

Mrs D-C


IB Results 2020

IB Results 2020

IB Results 2020

We are delighted that our IB students have, in this strangest of years, achieved a fabulous set of results.

Highlights include:

  • av point score = 39 (Global av = 30)
  • 52% of candidates scored 40 or more
  • 87% of HL (higher level) grades are at 6 or 7
  • 1 candidate scored a full 45 points
  • Very high av core score (extended essay, theory of knowledge, creativity/activity/service) of 2.3
  • 90% of students into high ranking first choice Universities, with 3 students into Oxbridge
  • Wide range of courses at destination universities: psychology, aerospace engineering, medicine, commercial management & quantity surveying, English Literature, PPE, child nursing

Outcomes such as these wouldn’t be possible without the vast amounts of effort and care that our staff have provided to these students, not just during the last couple of years, but throughout their time at the Abbey School.

Well done to everyone involved.


Abbey Gardens farewell to Mrs D-C

Abbey Gardens farewell to Mrs D-C


Virtual Ukulele ensemble's performance

Virtual Ukulele ensemble’s performance


Thanks for the Music Lower III

Thanks for the Music Lower III


Deputy Head's View - 3 July 2020

Deputy Head’s View – 3 July 2020

There is a little bit of me that is slightly alarmed by the prospect of eight weeks of summer holiday after fifteen weeks of lockdown and remote learning. I think I am concerned about how our children, who haven’t been in school since March, are going to manage several more weeks of less structured, socially distanced life. Inevitably, at some point, ‘I’m bored’ will fill the air.

There is, however, plenty of research that shows that boredom has its place. If we continually fill our children’s time with activity, they never learn to think for themselves, to come up with their own solutions. Finding things out for yourself rather than being told, is very good for resilience and confidence. Sometimes I have shied away from asking my offspring to help with chores – surely they could be devoting their young minds to higher things. Studies would suggest though, that doing mind numbing activities – emptying the dishwasher, putting out the washing, tidying up …, allows some rest for the brain, and into these moments, come good ideas. Being bored makes one connect with one’s surroundings. If you are happily engaged, you take your environment for granted. Boredom leads you to look around you and note where you are, and interact with what you find there.

If our job as parents is to make our children independent of us, then allowing them to be bored on a fairly regular basis, is a good place to start.

This weekend, I’m hoping to head back to my favourite cafe and sit outside enjoying a coffee and watching the world go by. On Sunday afternoon, I’ll be in school along with other teachers for the IB results. Whatever you are doing, please continue to stay safe. Next week we will be writing to you about some of our plans for the start of next term. In the meantime, I wish you a good weekend.

Allison Hadwin – Depty Head (Chaplain & Pastoral)


Pause 4 Thought - 3 July 2020

Pause 4 Thought – 3 July 2020

In assembly this week, we looked again at Vitality – in particular, what it means to thrive rather to merely survive. Survive means to “continue to live or exist, especially in spite of danger or hardship.” Thrive means to “prosper, be fortunate or successful, to grow or develop vigorously; flourish.”

Survive mode is characterised by:

  • Choosing the path with the least resistance – the easy route
  • Experiencing lack rather than abundance – glass half empty
  • Reacting rather than responding – not feeling you have a choice
  • Complaining and blaming others for your circumstances – not feeling responsible/empowered
  • Feeling inauthentic and stuck – no energy
  • Fearing failure and viewing it as a sign that things are going wrong instead of seeing it as a necessary part of success – closed mindset.

When we thrive, we are fully engaged with living. I shared with the students these ideas from the Rabbi Jonathan Sacks – from a TED talk he gave. He suggests that adopting these practices will make us more likely to thrive in our lives:

  • Dream. Seemingly the least practical activity turns out to be the most practical, and most often left undone. We often spend months planning a holiday but very little time planning a life. Dreams are where we visit the many lands and landscapes of human possibility and discover the one where we feel at home. The great religious leaders were all dreamers.
  • Follow your passion. Nothing — not wealth, success, accolades or fame — justifies spending a lifetime doing things you don’t enjoy. Too many people enter careers to earn money to give their partners and children everything they want, only topsoil their relationship with them because they never had time for them. People who follow their passion tend to lead blessed lives. Happy in what they do, they tend to spread happiness to those whose lives they touch. That is a life worth living.
  • Hear the call – live a life of meaning. Viktor Frankl, the psychotherapist who survived Auschwitz, used to say: Don’t ask what you want from life. Ask what life wants from you. The great lives are ones where people heard a call, had a sense of vocation. That is what set Abraham, grandfather of monotheism, on his journey and eventually it changed the world. There is a well-known story about three men who spent their lives quarrying rocks. When asked what they were doing, one replied, “Breaking rocks.” The second said, “Earning a living.” The third said, “Building a cathedral.” We don’t need to ask which of the three had the most job satisfaction.
  • Make space in your life for the things that matter. For family and friends, love and generosity, fun and joy. Without this, we can burn out and wonder where life went. Many cultures have a dedicated day of stillness each week, where we make space for all the things that are important but not urgent. A life without dedicated time for renewal, like a life without exercise or music or a sense of humour, is a lesser life.
  • Work hard. – the way an athlete or concert pianist or cutting-edge scientist works hard. The American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, calls this the principle of “flow”. By this he means the peak experience you have when we’re so involved in working at a task that we’re unaware of the passing of time. No great achiever — even those who made it seem easy — ever succeeded without hard work.
  • We all face challenges. It’s our attitude, the use of our strengths that enables us to thrive.

Next week is the final week of this term and the end of this, rather unusual, academic year. We will ensure that we draw the year to a close with all students, whether or not they are in school next week. I will be posting a virtual end of year assembly on the last day and they will have a final GMeet with their form teacher; I will be popping in to say goodbye to the girls who are in school on their last days in school next week. I know that those of you who will be seeking to say farewell in person to your daughter’s teacher, will do so with respect and understanding for others, and avoid any crowding.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs D-C