Well, it happened, and boy did it happen: the sun shone, the children streamed through the gates (new additions with some trepidation, old hands with great joy at being reunited with friends), and the start of term felt much more recognisably the start of term than it has for some time, not least because we have been able to welcome our parents back onto site: what a pleasure that has been.
Our first Senior School assembly for 18 months was an emotional, moving and at times uproarious affair (a very Wimbledonian combination). My favourite moment was when one of our Year 7s who had come up from Juniors tenderly covered the ears of a new Year 7 form mate just in time for the bellowing of ‘Unconquer’d’ in the last verse of the school song. Such care! And I don’t think I’ve heard the school song delivered with such passion or volume, not even on the school birthday. It means a lot, to all of us, to be back together. I’ve asked the girls for as long as possible to hang on to that sense of being grateful to be in school, aware of the good fortune of the educational gift you have afforded them, and to be prepared to throw themselves into school life and all its opportunities every single day. As we know all too well, across the world today there are many girls who do not share in that good fortune.
And, whilst it’s only been a week, we’ve already had moments of true triumph, academically and in the sports arena. The key here of course is for all of our girls to learn to be inspired and delighted by success – their own but especially that of others – rather than resorting to ‘compare and despair’. To be fuelled by others achieving their goals and allow it to motivate rather than intimidate you is a very valuable life skill. And indeed, I am keen to move away from the nebulous and sometimes intimidating notion of ‘success’ in any case, toward the much more rewarding idea of ‘fulfilment’. What we seek for each of our students is a life in which they are fulfilled by what they do and who they are. I can’t really think of anything better.