Newsletter 08/01

Dear all,

Though 2021 hasn’t begun in quite the way we’d all hoped, we trust you had some time to relax and recharge over the holiday period. 

MCS staff and pupils have coped with the last-minute pivot amazingly well.  Before Monday’s lockdown was announced, Virtual MCS was already up and running as the Senior School prepared for an initial two weeks of remote learning. 

10-15 children from key worker families are on site each day, and school is now able to provide on-site testing to ensure the safety and wellbeing of staff and students coming into school.

We share with you here the Master’s speech to students about the new lockdown, and good news about how MCS donors have been working to make sure families across Oxford have access to technology.

MCS pupils were accustomed to seeing Chapel beamed to them in houserooms during Michaelmas term, but will now be viewing Chapel at home.

See the Master’s and Chaplain’s addresses to pupils on Tuesday 5th January here.

“Make your inner life as full and rich as you can; as CS Lewis reminds us, that is the essence of the human condition. And maybe you won’t flourish in spite of this current and temporary adversity, or even because of it; but in sitting where you are you are already towards the top of the heap of life – but even that’s not the whole point.

If anyone can navigate remote learning and virtual MCS for a time, you’ve already proven that it’s you.

Make the most of 2021 because you are bright and creative and because today is the only Tuesday 5th January 2021 that any of us will ever have. So let’s crack on and make the most of it.”

We all hope it won’t be too long before students and staff can meet again as they are in the above photo from 2019.

The fundraising campaign, which started in November, has raised money for over 50 laptops through donations from OWs and Friends of MCS.

OW Bill Morris, who left MCS in 1964 and who supported the initiative, said: “I spent my boyhood in East Oxford and passing the 11+ transformed my life. When I heard how much difference having a laptop could make for this generation, I was glad to help.”

The machines arrived in December, just in time to equip pupils ahead of the latest national lockdown. Pictured is the Master, Helen Pike (who also spoke about the initiative on BBC South Today last night) with two laptop recipients at St Francis Primary School in Cowley.

Read more about this initiative here.

It is still possible to support – please get in touch with the Waynflete Office if you’d like to do so.

If there is any way we can help, do let us know.

Don’t forget to follow us on social media!
It provides a great opportunity for OWs to connect and share, and we regularly post news and updates about the school. Click below to find us.

With best wishes from the Waynflete Office.