Dear Parents and Carers, I hope you are all well.

Just before Christmas, I received a letter from Simon, our Headmaster, advising me that he wished to tender his resignation to be effective from the end of this academic year.

This wasn’t a surprise to me as I’d known for some time that Simon wanted to retire, but it still gave me great pause for thought, and not a small amount of sadness. As I said to Simon in my reply to his letter, it really will be the end of an era, one in which we’ve experience the most wonderful evolution, development, and growth of the College, and have produced cohort after cohort of fine Anselmians. And while we experienced some turbulence and tough times along the way, we’ve had many more wonderful experiences and incredible successes.

Throughout all of this, as our leader, Simon has always kept us true to our mission, and our values are as strong today as they were when my wife, eldest son, and I attended our first open evening in 2006, and as they have been through all of Simon’s 22 years with the College.

St Anselm’s College will not be the same without Simon but as it heads into new times as part of a MAT, his legacy will be the strong, vibrant, proud, and high-achieving organisation that he leaves to his successor. He should be proud of what will be his legacy, and we are proud of him.

I know Simon well, as a colleague and as a friend. He won’t want a fuss, but I think we should all take the opportunity to thank you Simon for his dedication and for everything he’s done for the College and for the boys. And of course, I count in this our amazing Second XV, who will have a new coach championing their cause come September.

We’re on with recruitment for our next Headteacher now, there are adverts going out (this weekend?) and we’ll keep you updated on that.

In the meantime, thanks as always for all your support for St Anselm’s College.

With very best wishes

John

John Greaves
Chair of Governors