Welcome from Jo Duncan | 8 June 2020

Our School Community

As a school community we have been touched by recent events following the brutal death of George Floyd in the US. Girls have spoken up passionately for their beliefs and I know that many in our community, including Seniors, have been deeply affected. I am proud that Wycombe Abbey is a truly global community, with girls from 29 different countries within our boarding houses. Our key School values are trust, encouragement and mutual respect and these need to be more than simply words, they must be characteristics which are reflected in our attitudes and actions towards each other and in society generally. We need to continue to challenge ourselves to be better – as friends, colleagues and citizens. In taking practical steps to move forward, I will be appointing a member of staff to lead on promoting diversity and inclusion at Wycombe Abbey and setting up a working party with a range of pupils to discuss the issues on an ongoing basis. There has been a broader call for schools to look at the taught curriculum generally with a view to making it reflective of the multi-cultural society in which we live; we will actively consider this with Heads of Department and academic staff as we move forward.

Reopening the school

On a different note, I am delighted that we will welcome back a number of LVI girls next week as we start the process of re-opening the school. The last few months have been extremely challenging for everyone and while our online learning programme has been very well received – indeed, some pupils are responding better in this remote environment – we are looking forward to having all girls and staff back onsite.

We are discussing all relevant issues involved in re-opening School including, but not limited to, the safe movement of people around the site, effective organisation of boarding houses and classes, test and trace and quarantine measures, and medical centre arrangements. We are looking at all of these aspects in depth and I will continue to communicate with you as we make decisions on the best way forward.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support during this time, which has been much valued by me and all of the staff at Wycombe Abbey.