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The Patron’s Lunch: Four students join The Queen’s 90th celebrations
| Following the excitement of the recent visit to Berkhamsted School by Her Majesty The Queen to mark the School’s 475th anniversary, four Sixth Form students joined 10,000 people on The Mall on Sunday 12 June in the final event to celebrate The Queen’s 90th birthday. |
As one of Her Majesty’s 600 Patron Organisations, Berkhamsted School was given the opportunity to be a part of the The Patron’s Lunch, which was organised by The Queen’s grandson, Peter Phillips, and transformed The Mall into the largest ever street party.
“The Patron’s Lunch recognised the tireless support and service The Queen has given to the community over her 64-year reign. We decided it would therefore be fitting to give four students who have demonstrated a high level of commitment to serving others the opportunity to attend the event,” says Richard Backhouse, Principal of the School. Joseph Woods (Year 12), Jessica Little, Jazmyn Thompson and Patrick Tolan (all Year 13) were the students who represented Berkhamsted School at the event.
Natascia Mateu-Bueso, who leads the School’s community service programme and attended with the students, says: “The event got off to a very damp start, with the majority of guests putting to good use the ponchos provided by the organisers. By the time members of the Royal family appeared on The Mall to greet guests, however, the sun was shining!”
She added that the students had emailed her to say how very much they enjoyed themselves. “It was a once in a lifetime event for them (and us) and will be something that will always be remembered in the future.”
Berkhamsted School’s community service programme aims to give all Sixth Form students the opportunity to give something back to the community, and this year over 100 student volunteers clocked up over 2,600 hours of voluntary work – an extraordinary 38% increase on the previous year.
“We’re proud to lead one of the most innovative Sixth Form volunteer programmes in the country, with student placements ranging from reading in local primary schools, to students using their intellect to solve problems for a charitable organisation through The Student Consultancy,” explains Mrs Mateu-Bueso.
For more information about the community service these four students have done, click here:
| Community service profiles | Web link |
Joseph Woods (left) and Patrick Tolan with another local pupil, Lucas Salinger, who attends Potten End CofE Primary School. Lucas had attended the reception hosted by the School on 6 May at which guests were introduced to Her Majesty The Queen, as he was the national winner of a Church of England school design competition for the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations. He and his mother had also been invited to the Patron’s Lunch and were sat at a table a short distance from where the Berkhamsted School guests were located.
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