Posted on: 12/05/2026Posted on: May 12th 2026
Year 13 Leavers Ceremony
We would like to share with you this week the words Mrs Anderson spoke to the students today at the Year 13 Leavers Ceremony:
Sometimes when I send year groups out into the world, I worry for them, I worry how they will adapt to more independence, to the challenges that come with living away from home or taking on new responsibilities. This year as I look out at you amazing young people, I am more worried about whether the world is ready for you!
Here you are, at the end of 13 years of formal education, for your parents, it is just the blink of an eye since you were 4 years old standing on the doorstep, clutching your book bag, in a school jumper that was too large for you, off for your first ever day of school and today you have completed that journey.
The privilege of my job is watching you grow from the awkward, uncertain Year 11 children that you were, into young adults, ready to go out and make our world a better place. When Mr Wood and I were preparing to meet you for your Year 12 induction day, we wanted one thing for you, that you would know that Jesus loves you and that you would experience that every day with us at Bishop Wand.
More than any other year group I have known, you have been a constant source of joy to me. You have shown courage in adversity, you have shown compassion and encouragement to one another, whether loudly championing each other or quietly getting an arm around a friend who is struggling and giving them the gift of your time and understanding. You have faced setbacks and suffered knocks, but you have taken all that life can throw at you and picked yourselves up, dusted yourselves off and gone again, wiser, but undaunted.
When I think about all you have accomplished, the mapping energy project, the air quality monitoring, the astronomy club, the volunteering and mentoring at St Mary’s. Our trips to St Paul’s Cathedral, to Southampton University, the many, many chicken recipes we’ve cooked and all the school events we have helped run, I feel indeed like a proud Mamma Hen.
I will miss you so much! I will miss you popping into my office to see what’s for breakfast, I will miss pulling CCTV footage to see why the door on the microwave will no longer close properly. I will miss your smiling faces, the way that no matter how many forks I start the week with there are never any by Friday, the ever increasing pile of clothes in the corner of my office, the gossip in the toilets that you think I can’t hear. Mostly though, I will miss being surrounded by your love and kindness.
Whether you go on to university, apprenticeships, professional rugby with Quins, to travel or to the world of work I want you to be bold, to be strong and to know that you are never alone, God is always with you and with his help, there is nothing, nothing that you cannot do.
Mrs J Anderson
Associate Assistant Headteacher
