1646 – Issue 2

A MESSAGE FROM JESSE ELZINGA I very much hope that you enjoy this second edition of 1646 . In case you missed it in 2019, this publication is a new one for the School, and just one way in which it is connecting with the Old Blues community. One of my key aims as Headmaster of Reading Blue Coat was to foster stronger links with Old Blues. With the help of Victoria Fangen-Hall, our Director of Foundation, and Sarah Pyper, our Community Relations Co-ordinator, this was a great success. During my tenure we had 1, 5, 10 and 20 year reunions in my final terms, and these will become annual events.We also hosted a number ofOldBlues back in Autumn 2019 who left the School between 1948 and 1979, and had dozens of Old Blues here for lunch as they reconnected with their old school. The engagement was also digital: we launched an online platform called ‘Reading Blue Coat Connect’, which helps to enhance the professional network of the Old Blues. If you have not yet signed up, then please do! In many ways, this was just the beginning of our engagement with the Old Blues community, and more will be forthcoming in the terms and years ahead. My genuine hope is that Old Blues will enjoy keeping in touch and hearing updates from their alma mater, and the School will benefit from your support, expertise and insight as well. In case you have not been back to the School recently, let me assure that it is flourishing. The School started in September 2020, the term following my departure, with record numbers; at the time of writing the School is as full as it has ever been with nearly 760 pupils. For several years now, the School has enjoyed record application numbers, and applications for September 2020 broke records again, with well over 300 pupils applying for just 96 places in Year 7. Never has the School been so oversubscribed. There are many reasons for this: strong academic results, and the wide range of co- curricular opportunities, in sport, music, drama, art, CCF, DofE and more. We are also recognised as having excellent pastoral care and highly effective tutoring; whilst the School has grown in numbers, we are still a warm and welcoming community. I have now left Reading Blue Coat, and I started a new role as Headmaster of Sevenoaks School in Kent in September 2020. It was not easy to leave – my family and I were wonderfully happy here for four years in Sonning. When I took over from Mike Windsor, he said to me, ‘I have done a lot, but there is much more to do.’ My years here have been busy and purposeful, and I do hope that I have helped to move the School forward, as my predecessors did in their time. As ever, there is more to do, and last summer I handed the reins over toMr Pete Thomas, who has been Second Master at Reading Blue Coat for the past five years. Pete and I met on a daily basis throughout my tenure and we worked together on all aspects of school life; I know that he loves the School and will be a brilliant Headmaster. I just hope that he has a Second Master as good as I had! Whilst I departed over the summer, the governors and Senior Leadership Term were determined not to lose any momentum on the School’s targets. I know that everyone will work to keep the academic standards high, and ensure that the pupil experience here remains such a rich one. The building plans for the new Performing Arts Centre remain very much in progress, and I hope to hear of this building work starting soon, despite a delay due to the pandemic. No doubt Reading Blue Coat will continue to be a community-based school, with links with other schools, charities and the Church of St Andrew’s in Sonning. More and more of our pupils are involved in service and partnership work, and this has been such a positive experience for them. A final aim for the School, and one that was as central to my vision for Blue Coat as it was to Richard Aldworth, was to ensure that all pupils who might benefit from a Blue Coat education will be able to access it, regardless of their ability to pay. The School will soon launch a campaign to raise money for additional bursaries, and I hope that many of you will be compelled to support this worthy cause. It was been the greatest privilege of my career to serve as Headmaster of Reading Blue Coat. It is a fabulous school: the staff are committed, hard- working and positive, and the pupils full of zest, good will and potential. Those close to me know that I shed several tears as I got used to the idea of leaving. Yet that is only because, like so many of you, over the years I came to love the School, and it will always be special to me. Perhaps I will be back from time to time, and I hope that you will do the same. Floreat Blue Coat! With very best wishes Jesse Elzinga Headmaster (2016-2020) A MESSAGE FROM THE READING OLD BLUES A SSOCIATION PRESIDENT 2020 has been a noisy year but unity, respect and kindness prevail. It has also shone a spotlight on the best parts of humanity, the power of togetherness and the unwavering strength of a community that is kind to one another. In this regard the Old Blues are very lucky. It is an organisation that embodies the above – a logical partner to the school itself, which of course runs on the very same principles. I know when I sit across the table from my colleagues in the committee, that we are joined with a united purpose, and that even when we have disagreements (and we do!), that we still have a wealth of respect for one another and kindness to fall back on. Common ground. I hope that during these trying times we have all managed to find that same common ground with those around us. I hope that in amongst the darker days (and I have no doubts that there have been many, for all of us), that cracks have existed so as to let the light shine through. I hope you haven’t been alone. And if you have felt alone, please know that the Old Blues, both as an organisation and as a group of people who care – are here. A network that will stand the tests of life and time. I am incredibly grateful for the hard work of the fantastic committee and Foundation Office – whose diligence and efforts continue to cultivate and grow a group that for so long has thrived on unity, respect and kindness. Long it may it continue to do so. Stay safe, and take care. James Boyce (2009) ROBA President