Last week we said goodbye to our Year 13 girls as they left us to go on study leave and prepare for the serious business of their exams.

This time of the year is always filled with mixed emotions for us and for the girls. They have worked so hard during their time at NGHS, whether they’ve been with us since Reception or joined us somewhere else along the way. Their final week at school is traditionally emotional but riotous fun too, and this year was no exception.

We held a Celebration and Awards Evening on Wednesday 8 May at which the girls laughed at photos of their younger selves, shared their memories of school with their friends and families, and received awards for all of their amazing achievements presented by this year’s guest speaker, Sudha Kheterpal.

Sudha left NGHS in 1989 and went on to do extraordinary things including playing percussion for some bands you may have heard of including The Spice Girls, but more famously with Faithless. She is also an entrepreneur and TED X speaker, and through her work as founder of Social Enterprise, Shake Your Power, was presented with the role of Ambassador for EU Sustainability Week and has received multiple awards for her entrepreneurial endeavours; the perfect inspirational speaker for our event!

Of course there were also speeches by our Head Girl, and our Head, and Mrs Skelton our Head of Sixth Form who has nurtured the girls through their past two years at school. She had huge praise for the girls and many words of advice for their futures, based on advice she would have given her younger self; the girls really appreciated this. You can read her speech here:

[button url=”https://nottinghamgirlshigh.gdst.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Leavers-Speech-2019.pdf” type=”three” text=”2019 Leavers’ Speech”]

Then we braced ourselves for the girls’ last day and we were not disappointed! Their theme this year was Film and TV which meant we were treated to an array of creative and hilarious costumes as the girls lined Arboretum Street for the annual water pistol battle with passers-by. Friendly fire was exchanged and much fun was had before the girls paraded at the Infant and Junior School for the younger girls to enjoy their outfits.

Back in their leavers’ hoodies the girls enjoyed breakfast in the Dining Hall where they were also treated to the now legendary Leavers’ Video made for them by the NGHS staff. This is just our way of saying thank you, goodbye and good luck in your exams. This year we opted for a song from The Greatest Showman which echoes our sentiments and reflects Mrs Skelton’s advice to always be yourself, so please enjoy the NGHS staff rendition of ‘This is Me’.

The success of the giant inflatables last year was repeated and the girls literally threw themselves into their last hour or so at NGHS on the school field. You can see an album of images from all of these events at this link.

A learning journey at NGHS is an incredible thing and Year 13 take a lot away with them when they leave. We know they will do really well in their exams and we look forward to sharing their success when we welcome them back on Results Day in August.