It’s about half-an-hour before dawn on the last day of the holidays. Entrance exam day at The Abbey. Soon hordes of 10 and 11-year-olds will be here for a day of assessment, but arriving before them: student volunteers. Coming in to help out and make sure the candidates have the best possible time and feel looked after. Big smiles, shrugs of the shoulders when thanked. Don’t worry about it. Happy to help.

That moment last Friday, seeing the volunteers stream in as the first light came into the winter sky, encapsulated The Abbey for me. The whole day did. It wasn’t just the selflessness of the volunteers, the sheer fact of them being there in the school holidays. It was the way they went about the task. It was the good cheer, the readiness to smile and laugh, the camaraderie and bonhomie they showed each other, the kindness they showed the candidates.

The morning saw assessments, in English and Maths and reasoning, and for many the wonderful, strange, open-ended task that is the scholarship paper. Lunch, featuring an ice-cream bar. Interviews. Then a range of further scholarship assessments, in art and drama and music, with sport to follow.

And in amongst all these assessments, candidates spent time in the Sixth Form centre. There was a movie on the big screen, board games scattered around the room, staff on hand to challenge them to cards, and Abbey students, guiding them from one place to another, answering their questions, showing a confidence and warmth and assurance that was just a delight to witness.

A key focus this year is our aspiration as a school to ensure every student feels celebrated, known and appreciated for who they are. Developing and maintaining that culture takes time and effort every day. It has to be tangible: it has to drive everything we do. When we review the entrance assessments, we look at every piece of evidence for every candidate. There is never a line drawn across a page. Everyone’s efforts are considered.

In the interviews, in small groups, candidates share their ideas with eagerness and excitement. In one discussion we talked about the theory that William Shakespeare wrote none of the plays published under his name (and why he never spelled his own name the same way twice in any of the signatures we have). In another, waggle dancing in bee hives. In all of them, candidates were questioning, curious-minded and above all being heard as themselves.

We will always look for ways that enable everyone in our community to feel that way, from the first day they are assessed for entry, to the last day when they graduate. Watching our student volunteers, heads bent to listen to yet another avid question, smiling as they answered, was a reminder of how much this matters: of the importance of those simple moments of personal connection. That generosity to others and that readiness to hear and learn from each other is something we will always foster and cherish.

Will le Fleming, Head