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Dear OWs and Friends, 

School’s out! Last week saw the final few days of the 2019-2020 school year – an unforgettable time in which MCS pupils and teachers responded to the enforced period of remote learning with typical creativity and efficiency.

Saturday 4th July not only saw the first Virtual Leavers’ Service, but the launch of this summer’s Conveniamus fundraising campaign, which seeks to support hardship and bursary needs of current and future MCS pupils.

With over £18,500 raised in the last week alone, Old Waynfletes and Friends alike are coming together in the spirit of Conveniamus to help pupils of all backgrounds secure an MCS education.

 

Conveniamus Hardship and Bursary Fundraising Campaign

Each year, we celebrate those who made the school possible at Commem – the Commemoration of Benefactors – including our founder William Waynflete.

This year has been different. We welcomed the next generation of Old Waynfletes virtually, and call on our MCS community to join together in the spirit of ‘Conveniamus‘.

Conveniamus means to come together, convene, unify in agreement, conveying:

- Let us come together!
- We would convene (if not for….)
- A wish that we could meet again.

That subjunctive captures so well how we feel in 21st century MCS: we would convene, if it were not for the pandemic. Together, we can help future pupils from all backgrounds secure an MCS education.

Over the next few months we will be in touch to explain how – by acting together – we shall raise funds for bursaries and hardship, and we’ll tell you more about our historic benefactors. We would love to hear from you too: not least about how we might get together again, once it is safe to do so.

Our Conveniamus fundraising campaign is running from Saturday 4th July 2020 (Commem) through to late September 2020. The first £50,000 of gifts will be matched by an OW who is donating in memory of an inspirational MCS teacher.

Your gift will go toward hardship funds and bursaries.  This will enable us to offer grants to those who are temporarily but profoundly affected by the implications of the virus, and ensure long-term success of the pupils and school by allowing MCS to teach an outstanding cohort of students each year from all parts of society.

 

Upper Sixth Leavers’ Day
This year, the traditional Leavers’ Service looked a bit different, but it was no less MCS in spirit.

Saturday 4th July saw the Upper Sixth observe a virtual Leavers’ Day Service filmed in Magdalen College Chapel, before coming into school that afternoon- in socially distant House Rooms- to meet with their tutors. OWs from the class of 2020 were all posted a parcel containing their leavers’ books, Lily Pins, a Lily tie/necklace, and a handwritten note from the Master.

Click here to see a clip from the service.

 

Virtual Chapel

Join the Master in a vodcast for the virtual end-of-term Chapel, as she ponders the dynamics of identity and individual vs. group rights, inspired by Philippe Sands’s East West Street.
 

Virtual Oxford Festival of the Arts

 

 

Enjoy OFA Virtual online!

This year the Oxford Festival of the Arts was moved online, with OFA Virtual 2020 including an eclectic selection of performances, interviews and talks, all available on their website and YouTube channel.

A particular highlight was the MCS end-of-term concert, which included clips and pieces from students and staff alike.

All events are free to view online.  Visit the OFA website for the full line up, which includes:

University of Oxford cultural historian, broadcaster and author Dr Janina Ramirez talking about goddesses – divine women of the past
OW Rob Watson (1979), of BBC and ‘Volta Redonda’ fame, interview Annaliese Dodds, MP for Oxford East and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Acclaimed cellist Gabriella Swallow performing a tribute to Jacqueline du Pré in this the year of the 75th anniversary of her birth.
 

 

Thank you to our Key Workers 

This week we thank OW Dr Tom Boyles (1990), an infectious diseases consultant in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is working directly with COVID-19 patients at Helen Joseph Hospital as well as focussing on preparing primary care facilities to operate safely during the pandemic. Dr Boyles has written a piece on the Coronavirus situation in South Africa for the OW website- click here to read.

It has been a delight to spread good news about OWs making a positive impact on the world right now.

Please keep sending photos and updates to the Waynflete Office – click here to read the stories sent in so far!

OW takes part in J2 lesson!
OW and former teacher Robin Winstone (1956) – here with his Grandson Jimmy who is in J2 – delivers a live lesson through MS Teams to Jimmy’s classmates about life during WWII, attending MCS in the 1950s and witnessing Roger Bannister’s 4 minute mile.
 

And finally… 

A comic strip on how to avoid one’s teachers on MS teams, brought to you by the Second Form … though we’re sure this was only an idea and not an executed strategy …
 

Keeping in Touch

We are always thinking of our MCS community and endeavour to help you feel connected to the school.

You can keep in touch with the school on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, as well as the Waynflete Office on our Facebook and Twitter.

In order for us to keep in touch with you, please notify us if your contact details change via the new online form on our website.  

If you would like to organise a virtual reunion or reach out to long lost school friends, please let us know via email. The MCS Strava group is also serving to keep members of the MCS community healthy, connected and motivated.

We are pleased to continue to receive your submissions to the Pandemic Papers, and are grateful to the MCS community for your support of our Conveniamus campaign.

With best wishes,

Susie, Alan, Allison, Kristina, Maddy, and Rob

The virtual Waynflete Office

 

Magdalen College School
Oxford OX4 1DZ

Join us in supporting bursaries at MCS 

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Phone: 07501 373933

Email: waynfleteoffice@mcsoxford.org

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