Newsletter 14/08

Dear OWs and Friends, 

After a long absence, U6 pupils finally made it back on site on Thursday to collect their A Level results!

We are so proud of the  resilience and determination the 2020 OWs have shown over the last few months, and congratulate them on their achievements.

Whilst many students remained at home to receive their results by email, it was nonetheless a good opportunity to welcome some students back on site for the morning.

Four students gained five A*s, including Head of School James Bridson. More about results day is being shared on the school’s social media and on the school website over the coming days.

Recognising the ongoing challenges likely to face parents and future pupils in the months and years ahead, a second OW has come forward to match an additional £25,000 in gifts made to the campaign. To help us maximise this generous match, make your gift here.

…

In the spirit of ‘Conveniamus‘, the MCS community is coming together to raise funds for hardship and bursaries.

Conveniamus means to come together, convene, unify in agreement.  It feels particularly apt now, given our wish to convene, were it not for the pandemic. But together, we can still help future pupils from all backgrounds secure an MCS education.

Raising hardship and bursary funds will allow us to support not only those who are profoundly affected by the pandemic, but also ensure that MCS is able to recruit a strong cohort of pupils drawn from all parts of society.

Our Conveniamus campaign runs from Saturday 4th July 2020 (Commem) through to late September 2020.

To find out more, visit our website or click below. We look forward to sharing more Conveniamus news  with you next week, and give sincere thanks to our incredibly supportive MCS community!

U6 Trinity Term Electives

Libby:

“Lockdown, and the loss of our A levels, has certainly been an alarming time for us Upper Sixth. Despite this, the bereavement that many of us felt (partly due to the fact that we had lost the opportunity to show our teachers we had actually listened to them!), rapidly turned to relief when the sun came out: it is highly doubtful whether we all could have managed our eight hours of revision then… It has also been a relief to know that we could not be in better hands in these circumstances. It’s not a surprise, however, that our teachers have still been relentlessly encouraging us to engage in the extension work we are currently undertaking. Many of us have found a new appreciation for our subjects without the constraints of time and syllabuses – and we certainly have not missed the weekly reminder concerning the ticking time bomb of our exams. These last few weeks of delving deeper into our subjects has built us a sturdy bridge with which we can cross from MCS to University, and whilst we are all very grateful that it has meant we can cling onto our school a little longer, it is bittersweet as we are still facing the inevitability of departure. Many of us feel we will not have had a proper closure to our years of school, but in a way that means that our door can never truly be shut on MCS, and MCS will remain, as I am sure it does for all its pupils, an irreplaceable part of our lives. “

David:

“While our time at MCS seemed to end in a particularly sudden and shocking fashion, I am oddly grateful for it doing so. I say this not because of the lack of exams, although that is, of course, a benefit of the situation, but because of what it has allowed us to do in the past weeks with our teachers. As of “study leave” beginning, we have had the opportunity to delve deeper into the subjects we love, and to move away from the mundane syllabuses that we know far too well. This has not only helped us to bridge the gap between school and university, but has also been of genuine interest as we have been able to tailor our learning experience far more than we ever could have if exams had still been on the cards. I personally have had the chance to discuss aspects of music that would never have been broached in an A-level course while at the same time looking at Greek Architecture. (What a combo!)

Aside from academic lessons, the school has recently provided us with a varied selection of “Skills Sessions” on topics from personal finance and touch typing to cryptic crosswords and knitting. These have all been tremendously helpful for us looking at student life and the years to come, as well as being good fun.”

YOW raises £12,000 for Beirut Disaster

“I had been living in Beirut since January 2020, and during that time co-founded a guerrilla gardening initiative called ‘GROBeirut’ which was comprised of a local community who worked together to create green public spaces in the locale of East Beirut. This resulted in the creation of a number of public spaces, among them a large park which was cleaned, painted and planted with trees, and having survived the blast now stands surrounded by the devastated buildings of those who contributed to its creation.  

This community is among the worst affected by the port explosion, and we are responding together in an effort to help residents heal in the same spirit with which they built the park. This is important not only for a community comprised of multiple nationalities and faiths, but also from an environmental perspective. With the city in urgent need of repair and rebuilding, we hope that our small corner of Beirut with a park at its centre can become a blueprint for a community-led recovery process that has green spaces at its heart. GROBeirut is raising funds to invest directly in skills, material and basic amenities in our corner of East Beirut, ensuring that every single penny raised lands on the ground among those most in need. Please consider having a read of our website for more information at www.grobeirut.com“

Keeping in Touch

You can keep in touch with the school on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, as well as the Waynflete Office on our Facebook and Twitter.

In order for us to keep in touch with you, please notify us if your contact details change via the new online form on our website.  

If you would like to organise a virtual reunion or reach out to long lost school friends, please let us know via email. The MCS Strava group is also serving to keep members of the MCS community healthy, connected and motivated.

We are pleased to continue to receive your submissions to the Pandemic Papers, and are grateful to the MCS community for your support of our Conveniamus campaign.

With best wishes,

Susie, Alan, Allison, Kristina, Maddy, and Rob

The virtual Waynflete Office