Do You Remember The Feeling?

The last IB exam is on Thursday 20th May, but our Year 11 GCSE students have another couple of weeks to go (good luck to everyone in these last exams!). I have been reminiscing with some staff about the feeling of finishing final exams at age 16 and 18. For some, the sense of elation and release of stress is the overwhelming memory. For others, it was more anti-climatic and the focus was more on what came next. 

I am very grateful that our students have been able to sit exams this year because, in our system of education, the final assessment remains the culmination. So, despite the nerves and the anxiety related to sitting the exams, I believe our young people are as well-prepared as possible for doing their best in the exams. I am incredibly proud of the way in which they have responded to the challenges of the last 18 months, especially in the last throes of their time at St. Julian’s when they have remained calm, focused and positive. I am confident that the results will also be positive and whatever the outcome, we are already very proud of what they have achieved and, more importantly, who they have become. 

For many students, the ability to come into school for this final crescendo of their school career has been somewhat cathartic. It is important to say a good goodbye to these buildings, the people inside and the memories linked to both - this is why the traditions around the last day and the graduation are so significant. The symbolic closing of a chapter helps us to move on emotionally, whilst acknowledging all that we have to be thankful for from the experience. The Year 13s I have spoken to have mixed emotions about finishing. Conversations about what they are going to do to their revision notes or the trip they are taking to let off steam are combined with glassy-eyed gazes around the patio and memories of the school that go back up to 15 years. 

I’m sure I speak for everyone at St. Julian’s in wishing all of our departing students the very best in their next steps, wherever they may be and I know a piece of St. Julian’s special-ness will be carried along the way as they surf the waves of life!

Dan Norbury
Secondary Principal