Dean Close Preparatory School welcomed television presenter Angellica Bell to the school last week for its Annual Speech Day.
Angellica is best known for her presenting on CBBC, The One Show and for co-presenting The Martin Lewis Money Show. She also won the 2017 series of Celebrity MasterChef.
The day started with a reflective end of year Chapel Service at the Senior School, after which parents could visit the ‘French Café’ to enjoy fresh coffee and pastries served by pupils. Throughout the morning the children’s classrooms were open so parents could review their work, including projects such as; Viking Longboat races, biography reviews, rainforest activities and in the science laboratories parents could even take the Dean Close Bushtucker Trial, as pupils were offering mealworms, locusts and crickets as alternative sources of protein, perhaps the food of the future!
If parents weren’t feeling hungry, they could take a leisurely walk to the School’s beautiful outdoor theatre to watch pupils perform a play entirely in Latin, which was impressive as most of the actors were just 13 years old.
Parents then made their way to a large marquee on the school field to take their seats for speeches and the prize-giving ceremony. In his speech the Headmaster, Mr Paddy Moss, encouraged his pupils to be of service, to help others and to be outward looking. He went on to explain that 10% of life is what happens to you, 90% is how you react to those experiences. He asked them to take the time to grow from what life ‘sends’ you with a good combination of resilience and positivity. He ended with a quote from Aristotle: “Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.”
Prize-giving followed, where pupils who have excelled in certain subjects or made great progress throughout the year received prizes, for instance the award for Academic Endeavour was won by Henry Read and the cup for General All-round Citizenship was won by Tom Elwes. In addition, this year there were also the Value Prizes. These were awards presented to pupils from each year group who had clearly emulated the school values of integrity, honesty, resilience, kindness, service and respect.
Angellica said: “It was wonderful to be invited to such an extraordinary school, where they celebrate not only academic and co-curricular achievement, prizes were also given to those children who had demonstrated the school’s values which are so important to help shape a healthy, positive society. I asked the staff, parents and children to consider the qualities their hero might have or someone they looked up to and then try and emanate those qualities themselves – to be the very best person they can be – to be their own hero. Wishing the Dean Close Community a well-earned rest this summer.”