As I get ready to leave school, everyone asks the same question: what will you miss most?
The buildings? The teachers? The memories? For me, it’s the people.
Over the last year, I’ve been fortunate to be a member of the Upper School Council, with a role focused on promoting the bursary programme around school. It’s made me reflect much more deeply on what actually shapes our community and why that matters long after we’ve left.
Some of my closest friends have had very different journeys to get here.
Different family circumstances, different challenges, different starting points. At the time, that just felt normal. Looking back, I realise how important it’s been. Learning alongside people whose lives don’t look exactly like yours teaches you empathy, perspective and confidence in a way no lesson ever could.
It also feels like an important moment for schools like ours. Education is being talked about more than ever about who can access it and what it should stand for. It would be easy for a school community to become narrower or more closed but I believe that would be a loss for everyone.
I think that one of the things CHS does so well is prepare us for what comes next and being part of a diverse community has helped me learn how to listen, work with others and how to understand people with different experiences and viewpoints. Those are the skills I know I’ll take with me long after I’ve forgotten A Levels!
As I leave, I realise that a strong school community isn’t one where everyone is the same. It’s one where everyone belongs.
That’s why the idea behind 1 in 6 matters to me because it protects the kind of community that has shaped who I am and prepared me for whatever comes next.
Find out more about the 1 in 6 Campaign here.
