End of Term Reflections

As another wonderful school year at Berkhamsted has come to an end, we take the time to reflect back on the fantastic events that took place in the lead up to the last day.

GI Day 2022

On Thursday 30^th June, Berkhamsted School hosted it’s CCF General Inspection Day for 2022. The day was a celebration of the year and offered the chance to recognise those who had won awards for their work and contributions.

The cadets were able to show their superb standard of performance and teamwork – Year 9 even got to demonstrate this on their Royal Navy field gun run!

Thank you to the Corps of Drums from our sponsor Regiment and the Welsh Guards, whose presence created a fantastic atmosphere to our GI Day.

Prize Day

Our Prep and Senior schools ended the year with their annual Prize Day celebrations. Both events were a lovely way to bring together our community and allowed a chance for reflection and celebration.

Berkhamsted Prep came together to produce a fantastic video about aiming high and dreaming big! Prize Day is an important right of passage for our Prep pupils as it allows them to look back on all they have achieved and also get excited about their next steps in education and life. Take a look at the inspiring video shared at Prep Prize day below:

The theme for our Senior Schools Prize Day was ‘Past, Present and Future’. Pupils and family were taken back in time to reflect on different events that have taken place at the school and were also offered an insight into the future of Berkhamsted. Take a look at the video below to see teachers, pupils and Old Berkhamstedians look back at the history of our school:

Prize Day also allowed the chance for us to say farewell to the Y13 class of 2022, who have always modelled our school values; Aim High, Be Adventurous and Serve Others. We wish them all well in their next steps and the bright futures they have ahead.

Pre-Prep Final Assembly 

Pre-Prep celebrated the end of term and the school year with their final assembly. The assembly was a chance to congratulate the pupils on their successes in the presence of family.

What a spectacular way to end the year!
The perfect celebration of our children and all their success.

Thank you to all our wonderful families for your constant support and engagement.
Excellent partnerships = confident, happy children and a bright future!
👏❤️ pic.twitter.com/VxobBUGW61

— BerkoPrePrep (@BerkoPrePrep) July 8, 2022

Heatherton Trashion Show

Heatherton celebrated the end of term in style with their very own Trashion Show! The Pre-Prep and Prep girls got to walk the catwalk in their recycled and upcycled creations to the sound of applause from the huge crowd of parents, siblings, and teachers.

The event was a fantastic way of spreading the important message of being more careful with materials that are either man-made or come out of the ground.

D&T Inter-House Competition

Our senior pupils loved the bi-annual D&T Inter-House competition! The theme was ‘removing plastic from our oceans’, which gave pupils the opportunity to design and model a prototype drone to collect as much plastic waste as possible. The house groups were judged on four categories – teamwork, innovation, quality of their prototype and how many plastic balls it could collect from a specially built pool.

It was great to see so many fantastic creations from our pupils. Congratulations to the winning house, Adders, who showed fantastic innovation and teamwork and for producing such a high quality design.

Sunnyside BBQ

We welcomed the Sunnyside Rural Trust gardening team to a barbeque and disco at our Castle Campus where we had some of our Year 10 girls come and join in with the fun and  games, helping make this event a wonderful occasion.

Our Sunnyside team have been working at our schools since 2019. They have grown fruit and vegetable beds at the Prep school, and have maintained our memorial gardens at both Kings and Castle campuses. As well as this, they have also looked after the Chapel bedding plants along Castle street. Currently, the team are looking after all the bedding plants and hanging baskets at St John and Incents Boarding house.

The Sunnyside Trust specialises in helping trainees to join in everyday activities in and around the Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead areas. Even though the every day challenges of Autism, Learning difficulties and Down Syndrome have their own specialised challenges, this never stops the smiles and laughter every time they visit us, we love having the team around the school.

Final Chapel Service

A special thanks to the Spirituals for leading such an inspirational end of term Chapel service for our senior and sixth students. It was glorious to see such joy on stage and in the marquee. An uplifting way to end the term.

Glorious end of year Chapel service this morning with all our Senior and Sixth students and the outstanding @thespirituals_ ! 🎼🎹 pic.twitter.com/CCdChheyvw

— Berkhamsted Chapel (@BerkoChaplaincy) July 4, 2022

Fond Farewells

Our final week was filled with laughter, applause and also some tears as we celebrated our successes and said some fond farewells.

Happy retirement to Mrs Richardson! She is a true legend of our modern era, having dedicated 35 years to the school.

“At the heart of everything she does is her care for the pupils. She genuinely wants them  to succeed and flourish. She truly is a remarkable person and I feel so privileged to have served as her Deputy.”  Mrs Simson

“Mrs Richardson is an inspirational leader who as a totally dedicated Head of Berkhamsted Girls has led by example – with clear goals and strong ambition for her pupils and absolute commitment and energy in everything she does.” Mrs Miles

A fond farewell to Mr Graham Burchnall. ‘Burchy’ has dedicated 36 years to the school and the impact he’s made to students in the classroom, Houseroom and Rugby field is simply unimaginable. He’s been a pillar of strength for his students, and his humility, integrity, and ability to inspire others has been simply remarkable.

‘I’ve loved every minute of my 36 years because of the people at this school” Burchy’s words as he said farewell at Castle Campus.

A teacher and colleague respected and admired to the highest degree, he is well-loved throughout the community. Enjoy your retirement Mr Graham Burchnall.

It is safe to say that we have had another fantastic year at Berkhamsted, made possible by the staff, pupils and school community. We look forward to welcoming everyone back in September.