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I am writing this blog on the second day of Whitgift Summer School 2024. Yesterday, the first student arrived at Whitgift at 10.10am and the final student arrived at 11.30pm. Student friendships have started to form, and this year’s summer school has now officially started. This year, we have students of over thirty different nationalities joining us, which is a new record. The atmosphere is already vibrant, exciting and dynamic. The sense of community and belonging is already palpable, encouraged through the welcoming welfare team, the engaging teacher and established house system. I can already tell; it is going to be another fantastic summer!

I am sad to report that this will be my final summer school at Whitgift. After the last student has left on 18 August, I move on after 9 and a half years at Whitgift, passing responsibility for the summer school to my fantastic colleague, John Chisholm, this year’s Course Director.

At Whitgift Summer School, it is impossible not to be swept up in all the excitement and learning that goes on and live in the moment. However, having been reminded as to why it is so brilliant yesterday and this morning, I wanted to spend a few minutes reflecting the things I will miss about this wonderful place.

The establishment of a new Boarding House in 2013 afforded a new opportunity to provide additional opportunities for visiting international students to come to Whitgift and study at a residential summer school, making use of these new facilities over the summer holidays. I am proud to say that I was part of a team that set up and ran the inaugural Whitgift Summer School in 2015. This diverse and innovative residential summer school has been now running for 9 years now, and is an established feature of Whitgift’s annual calendar. Over the years the programme has developed and changed as new innovative elements such as Progressive Skills in Action, Pre-IB and Pre-IGCSE have been launched, along with varied Academies and Activities. The staff running the summer school have also changed over the years, as have the students, of course, although it is encouraging to know that we are blessed with returners in both areas. Despite all this, the core summer school provision has remained quite similar.

There is so much that I will miss after this year’s summer school has finished. Here are a few of them:

• The excitement of the staff induction, which happens 3 days before we welcome the international students; seeing a mix of returning staff from the previous year mixing with a few new ones, and seeing the Whitgift staff who are involved in the summer school, all get caught up in the excitement and desire to make this the ‘best summer yet’, which more often than not, it turns out to be!
• The buzz and sense of collegiality amongst staff on that first arrivals Sunday and seeing all the hard work and planning that has gone into launching the programme finally realised.
• Seeing students quickly make friendships in such a welcoming and multi-cultural environment. For example, yesterday, I saw two international students sharing a room, who had never met before, quickly become best friends as they made bunting to decorate their room together in a craft activity.
• Seeing the international students and British Student Hosts sit together for the first time at the Sunday BBQ and chat, without phones, creating a lovely communicative atmosphere.
• Seeing our visiting international students immediately take group selfies with the flamingos in the background. This happens every year!
• Seeing the looks on the students’ faces at the end of each week as we show them the end of week video, featuring all the fun activities they have been doing throughout the week and including funny moments captured by our resident videographer. This, and the next one, have not happened yet this year, but I am looking forward to them!
• Seeing students work together in exciting academic project-based afternoon classes and proudly share their work with each other at the end of week exhibitions and presentations.

So much has already happened, but thankfully, this is only the second day of the summer school. There will be so much more to enjoy as the summer progresses.

I am incredibly pleased to know that, as I move on to take on new challenges, the summer school is going to continue to be run by John, who is such a capable and committed colleague, with the support of the rest of the year-round International Office. I am sure that in future years the provision will continue to grow and develop, as it always has done. But, before I say goodbye, I am really looking forward to the next 6 weeks first!

To reiterate what I wrote at the start, I can already tell, it is going to be another fantastic summer! With this set of amazing students, and these staff members, in this location, how could it not be?

David Bates

Director of International Education