Theodore – Captain of School Final Speech

Standing before you today as Captain of School, on my last obligatory day at Heathfield Knoll School, I am primarily overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions, ranging from nostalgia to relief, having recently survived GCSE examinations. However, the most frightening, even compared to the aforementioned, is the realisation that the secondary half of my schooling has flown by. To say that “time flies when you’re having fun” is an understatement. Looking back at all that I have achieved in my time at Heathfield Knoll (which began in the Summer of 2021) I am dumbfounded as to how the school has evolved. People, and even buildings, have come and gone in this half-decade. 

I am incredibly indebted to all of the teachers who have helped my peers and me to develop into the people we are today and I possess a whole plethora of happy memories that will never leave me. To save us remaining seated for hours on end, I shall only bore you with the details of a select few….

Casting my mind’s eye back, the first memory that comes to mind is somewhat more recent, and it enfolded in our last timetabled Geography lesson. We were revising coastal landforms, specifically caves, arches etc… and the specific example that we were reminded of was ‘Old Harry and His Wife’ with old harry being the stack and his wife, the stump. It was at this moment, following a brief period of silence, that Ryan remarked that the marriage hadn’t ended well. 

There are many other incidences of world-class one-liners making an appearance in our lessons, such as Bear’s desire to order a drone strike for anyone who uses the word “Bias” in a history source/interpenetrations analysis essay. These will be dearly missed. The banter between Miss McLaurie and Bear, specifically, brought a comical element to every English lesson. 

It is impossible to reminisce without mention of DofE, both Bronze and Silver. DofE Bronze involved us traversing the Malvern Hills in a mixture of tropical sunshine and rain comparable to a monsoon. All of the teachers who have taught me English over the years will hopefully appreciate my use of hyperbole here. It was, however, an unforgettable experience, specifically when Ryan, George Nicholas and I had to sprint up the Worcestershire Beacon in order to catch up with the other group. When I say sprint, we travelled from the car park to the summit in only 20 minutes. Thanks to our 60-litre backpacks, we were almost too tired to take in the view once we had reached the top. 

Fast-forward eighteen months and our “DofE Elite Squad” (as Mr Rawles referred to us) began to form. And in the summer of 2025, we completed our DofE Silver practice expedition in the Peak District. My most fond memory of the expedition is a simple one, and an example of how exposure to the elements enables a group to bond. The campsite that we stayed on the first night was in a picturesque location next to a quiet river – and crucially, far away from the other campers. As there was an appropriate picnic bench and I had brought with me my trusty pack of miniature playing cards, we whiled away the summer evening playing poker, not for money (you will be pleased to know) but instead, for chocolate. This became an activity that we repeated multiple times over the remainder of the practice expedition and the course of our qualifying expedition. However, as time passed, we began to wonder… ‘was Ryan rigging the deck?’ 

This academic year, as Captain of School, I have had the opportunity to become acquainted with all of you wonderful people, both young and old, from across the school. And I have become increasingly aware that as students of HKS, we are one big family. As I am sure Mr Morgan will tell you, you never really leave this extraordinary place. And I feel that as a class, we have always been close-knit. Whilst the odd person has departed and we have had various additions to the cohort over the years, the class dynamic has never, to my knowledge, shifted. In times of hardship, we have always pulled together as a group. However, there was one particular English lesson in which we collaborated on essays on the text ‘Of Mice and Men” which springs to mind. Unable to divide and conquer, we ended up with one very convoluted essay consisting of far too many polysyllabic words (although try as hard as I might, the assimilation of antidisestablishmentarianism was incomprehensible). I am pleased to say, though, that this is the only instance that I can bring to mind of tension between peers when outside the realms of a debate. 

Consequently, as I stand before you today, trying to express the gratitude I feel to all of my peers and teachers, both old and new, and to everybody who makes Heathfield Knoll School what it is today, I am left speechless. So I would like instead to take advantage of the great wisdom of others. C.S Lewis stated that “Gratitude looks to the past and trust to the future”. I will forever be indebted to HKS, an institution to which I will forever be grateful, and in whom I have put my trust for nurturing a promising future.

Heathfield Knoll School, I thank you.