Taylorian

18

TAYLORIAN 2024

bursaries. The building was supported in part by philanthropic giving from OMTs, parents and friends of the school. Led by Nick Latham, our often unsung but wonderful Development Team raised over £2.3m for the project. I am reaching a conclusion but will be guided towards the finish with some final thoughts from Mulcaster’s book. He wrote, and I could not agree more, ‘The good that cometh by schools is infinite; the qualities required in the teacher are many and great’. Mulcaster adds words that should be written in letters of fire on every staffroom wall in the country, ‘The teacher must have determination to take pains, perseverance to continue in his work, discretion to judge of circumstances, cheerfulness to delight in the success of his labour, sympathy to encourage promising youth, hopefulness to think every child an Alexander, and courteous lowliness in his opinion of himself.’ Our staff are indeed courteous in their modesty, given the breadth of their achievement and hard work. I thank them all but pick out two long-standing colleagues for especial mention. Firstly, I thank Mr Taylor who retires after 37 years. I must also honour another valued colleague – Dr McNerney. She steps down from Headship at Merchant Taylors’ Prep after 21 years of service to the school. I thank her for her work, her wisdom and her friendship. I must offer one additional farewell – to our hard-working Chairman of Governors, Duncan Eggar. He has been Chair for the last four years but has served on the Governing Body since 2009. It is hard to overstate the importance of the role and I am grateful for his support and his challenge. I welcome Andy Cree as a worthy successor.

and Merchant Taylors’ Prep. It ended with massed choirs and an orchestra from MTS and St Helen’s, with the very welcome return to MTS of Harrison Robb OMT as a professional baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs . The Art Department has had a particular focus on getting work seen across the school. This year they introduced exhibition opening events for Lower School projects. Shows have included complex cubist sculptural constructions based on musical instruments and a very large group painting of a wild collection of monsters at a table, about to eat. Mulcaster believed a school did more than educate the pupils in facts. A good school would teach them to be a better person and not just a better scholar. He wrote, ‘They should be set to school, to qualify themselves, to learn how to be religious and loving, how to govern and obey, and in short, how to perform that excellently by labour, whereunto they are born but rudely by nature.’ We continue to teach pupils how to perform with excellence and to better themselves as caring people. The Phab team successfully raised funds throughout the year to support Phab Week during the Easter holidays, engaging in various fundraising activities and events. Phab Week 2024 itself was a roaring success. Community Action is also a hive of activity. We invited 145 students from two local primary schools onto our site. The children enjoyed a Harry Potter day, a bridge building challenge and VEX Robotics programming.

St Barnabas’ Day Charity Drive supported Phab and Mind UK. They hosted film nights, football tournaments, staff v student matches, and sleep-outs. Next year they are hoping to help out locally, linking with Watford food banks and delivering meals in the community. To return to Mulcaster’s words, he wrote, ‘I wish commodious situation and room in places for learning and exercise’. Commodious situation perfectly describes our wonderful new facility – the Julian Hill Cricket Centre. Since its opening in January, it has proven a great success and will soon begin to create funding for new Mulcaster sums up the role of teachers thus, ‘Our profession is certainly more arduous than most; but on the other hand, not many have such opportunities of doing good service.’ It has been an honour today to share some of the good service that my colleagues have offered this year. The pupils have benefitted greatly, and I am deeply grateful. Thank you all.