A conversation with Berkhamsted’s Head Boy and Head Girl

With over a term now under their belts, we caught up with our new Head Girl and Head Boy, Verity P-W and George P, to find out about what motivates them and how it feels to be a leader in the Berkhamsted community.

Head Boy and Head Girl are just two of many leadership opportunities available to pupils at Berkhamsted, but for Verity and George, these roles carry a deeper personal meaning.

“I have always been obsessed with every Head Girl who has come past,” Verity admits. “It was an admiration thing.”

“It’s also really important to me that when things aren’t going well, you have the confidence to speak up. I’m not necessarily the loudest person in the room, but being able to have that confidence to say, ‘We need to sort this,’ was something I was really passionate about.”

George shares a similar drive to serve his community and to inspire. Motivated by people, George loves when fellow pupils stop him to say hello, and wants to help them “feel that they’re part of the community.”

“I’d love to go into front line politics,” he says. “I like that feeling of doing stuff for the people and empowering the people.”

It is clear that both Verity and George want to give back to their School community and help others throw themselves into Berkhamsted life. Their first initiative has been orchestrating a warm welcome for new pupils.

“We’ve introduced this new induction letter process. We wrote a bit about ourselves, included a few embarrassing photos, and spoke about our experiences in the School, and we passed down information that we wish we would’ve known as a new Year 7,” George shares. “We want to inspire them.”

Their best advice for our Year 7s? Verity answers, “don’t be afraid to fail.”

She laughs, “If Year 7 Verity heard me say that I didn’t revise for a test, she would have a heart attack!” However, she has learned, “it’s actually okay if you fail, because you’ll get back up again and learn from what you didn’t know.”

George agrees, saying “sometimes that fear of failure can hinder you from going into opportunities.”

“It’s a safe environment here- the whole community is here to support you and there’s an abundance of opportunities, so jump into them and really just explore your passions.

That feeling you get afterwards- almost satisfaction and you’re proud of yourself- can’t be matched.”

George and Verity are the perfect embodiments of Aiming High with Integrity, Being Adventurous and Serving Others. Their leadership is rooted in years of admiration, a sense of service to the community and a desire to help others thrive. Listening to their passion and motivation is nothing short of inspiring.

To learn more about the application process for George and Verity, along with their favourite moments from School and future plans, listen to our podcast episode on ‘In the Berkhamstedian Spotlight.’

Our Head Boy and Girl often go on to do amazing things- there is no greater example of this than Old Berkhamstedian, Jed Thirkettle. Watch his recent feature interview on Youtube now.