Happy Birthday Denmark Road
On 1st May the whole school joined together to celebrate living here at Denmark Road for 110 years and to welcome the beginning of a new year in the life of our school.
Our beginnings
The first Girls School in Gloucester, our school, was founded in Mynd House, Barton Street in 1883. On 14th January 1909 the school was opened on this site. A gold key was presented to Lord Stanley who used it to unlock the front door. The gold key was inscribed: “Forever open for the diffusion of sound learning and useful progress”, similar to our wildly important goal today of ‘Nothing less than positive progress and wellbeing for all’.
If you are interested in reading more of our history and seeing some pictures from years gone by please follow this link to the Birthday Celebration presentation shared with our students. Many thanks to Rachel Hayward for collating this for us.
A constant through generations
Many generations of women and now men have passed through these doors and benefitted from the community and learning here. During the Easter holidays I had the great pleasure of welcoming four generations of Denmark Road students back through our doors. Audrey, to celebrate her 90th Birthday, asked to come back with her daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter (who starts here in September). Her mother also attended our school. For me this says so much about who we are. We are a family,
much loved by those who come here and every one of us will always be welcome here. We will always be Denny. Article on page 8.
The May Tree – our school emblem
In 1933 to celebrate the school’s 50th Jubilee, our May Tree was planted. Miss Penson wanted a wild hawthorn with white blossom to symbolise the high and pure character of the pupils at the School. Today it stands amongst us as a link to the past and our emblem of the future. Our May Tree is a powerful symbol of our school and what we stand for. It stands proud within our garden as we stand proud as individuals, yet it does not overshadow the other trees and shrubs, just as we act in honour preferring one another. It has great beauty in every season, just as we strive to discover and realise our personal best each and every day, and the large symmetrical canopy offers shelter, just as our community binds us all together and will look out for us, wherever we may be. I share this, especially with Year 13 students who will soon be leaving this building for the last time as students. Wherever they may choose to go in their futures, they will always be Denny.
Student Leadership
The school’s birthday is a time to look to our future. We are developing our plans to create the next chapter of the school’s history. Student Leadership is really important to this, our students are our reason for being, they need a voice in our school’s future. I would like to thank the current Head Students who have ably served the school over the past year. Maddie, Katie, George and Abbie, have given so much of their time and been exemplary role models. I offer my heartfelt thanks for their commitment to the school.
I am pleased to announce our Student Senior Leadership Team for 2019-20. Our Head Students are Remi Shah-Thornley, Jessica Davis, Stefan Hossle, Kate Hayes and Jemima Kelly. We look forward to working with them in developing Student Voice within our school.
Give us a (financial!) HUG
As you will be aware from my email last week we also chose to launch our Help Us Grow fundraising campaign on our Birthday. Our future could do with a little financial help to ensure that your sons and daughters have the opportunities they deserve in order to discover and realise their personal best. The campaign aims to raise £125,000 by the summer of 2020. This money will help us to shape the future of the school and enable those within it to flourish. Thank you so much to those who have already completed donation forms and to those who have taken time to state their support for the fundraising initiative. If the email has passed you by or you have not yet donated but would like to, please click on the link below which will take you to our fundraising page.
So, here is to the future of Denmark Road High School, our school, which we will work together to shape for the good of our current community and for the generations to come.
