This year’s Speech Night was a wonderful event and a chance for staff, pupils and their families to come together and take time to recognise and reflect on the successes of last year’s Year 11, 12 and 13 pupils.

The evening began with a warm welcome and audiences were entertained with musical performances and an excerpt from the forthcoming production, Twelfth Night by Kwame Kwei-Armah.

Mrs Stotesbury, Head, gave a thought provoking, inspiring ‘seed-themed’ address, with a wide range of references including Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy and the Global Seed Vault. She shared some of the history of our Broad Oak building and she spoke of how Broad Oak was once the home of the founder of Sutton Seeds before it became the home of Community of Sisters who once lived and taught at the College. Mrs Stotesbury reminded the audience of how even mighty oaks have to grow from the tiniest seed, just like St Joseph’s Alumni, the Old Broad Oakians.

Then guest speaker, Sophie Peckham, Student Relationship Fundraising Manager at the WWF shared her experience of the winding journey she has had in her career before finding her passion for the not-for-profit sector and fundraising in general. The Head Students closed the event by explaining how they had experienced the St Joseph’s 5Cs first hand over the past year and an update on their Sustainability project.

Congratulations go to all the scholars, postelars, subject and special prize winners and thanks to those students who contributed to making the evening such a memorable one.

To see some more photos from the evening – please click here