On Wednesday 20th November we held our GCSE Presentation Event when Year 12 students and their parents joined staff and governors for the presentation of the GCSE certificates and awards. To present the certificates to the students, Kitty Gingell, former student and Curriculum Prefect in last year’s Head Girl Team, returned to Kendrick from university to speak and present the certificates. Kitty spoke to the students about her undergraduate course at Oxford University where she is studying Engineering and how she is enjoying studying subjects that she took at A Level in particular Physics! She gave the students some advice which she said she would have appreciated when she was in their place two years ago. She summed up her advice into five key points:

1. Persevere - be resilient. The next two years and, as I’m coming to realise pretty quickly, the many years after that too, will be difficult and stressful at times. You need to remember that when you’re going through a rough patch the only way to get out the other side is often to keep trudging along. So my first piece of advice is to be resilient, keep your head up, and persevere.
2. Don’t compare yourself to others: It’s very easy to compare yourself to others while you’re at school. Remember that different people have different ways of studying that work for them.....different schedules and different motivations too, and it’s counterproductive to try to compare yourself with those around you.
3. Always be kind: Be kind to others - invite people to events, sit and chat with someone who might not have adjusted to sixth form life yet, be inclusive of everyone. You are in the lucky position that you know this school very well but there are many new students too and they won’t necessarily feel completely settled at this point. Reaching out just by offering someone a cup of tea or walking to the station with them can make such a difference to their day - even though it might seem quite a small act to you. Also, very importantly, be kind to yourself. Regularly exercising, getting a decent amount of sleep and staying off social media can really help your work and boost your day-to-day happiness.  
4. Get involved: For me the extracurricular clubs and societies really enriched my time at Kendrick so I would highly recommend that you sign up to a sports team and go along to some interesting societies  (I’d certainly  recommend engineering soc!).
5. Make mistakes: The final piece of advice I would like to offer is that all advice should be taken with a pinch of salt!  I hope you’ve found what I’ve been saying this evening useful, but the only way to really learn is to make your own mistakes. When I was debating choosing between Physics and Art no amount of advice would have swayed me one way or the other. In fact, quite often being advised against something is the very spark to make you do it!  Whether you heed advice or plough your own furrow - if it doesn’t turn out so well remember- don’t worry, we all learn from our mistakes. That is how progress is made! 

It was a super speech that everyone enjoyed and appreciated. We are very grateful to Kitty for making the time to come and speak to the students and we look forward to welcoming her back in December at her own presentation event when she will be presented with her A Level certificates by another former Kendrick student, now a Lawyer, Jennifer Brace.

GCSE Presentation Evening 2019 - Photo Gallery