Commemorative Service!
Last year, St Mark’s celebrated 10 years of being an Academy and that same year, students achieved the best GCSE and post 16 results in the school’s history. To celebrate and mark these incredible milestones, we held our first commemorative service on Tuesday 5 June 2018. We had the honour of holding the occasion at the iconic Southwark Cathedral and the privilege of being hosted by the Dean of Southwark, the Very Reverend Andrew Nunn. It was a remarkable and thoroughly entertaining event consisting of hymns, readings and incredible performances. It is definitely a ceremony to remember.
Our Principal, Ms Peterkin welcomed the congregation reminding us of why we were there and the achievements over the past 10 years from exam results placing us in the top 16% nationally to our success in our most recent Ofsted visit. Amongst many stand out comments from Ofsted, they said, “Pupils are confident, thoughtful and articulate,” along with, “Pupils are well prepared for the next stage in their life both educationally and socially.”
This was a tremendous occasion to celebrate and reflect on the school’s achievements. We are extremely proud of the school’s achievements, values and students and staff who made this special event such a success.
Following the welcome, we were treated to an astounding choir performance with a few standout talents, a marvellous dance and a captivating solo by the award-winning gospel Artist, Mr Isaiah-Raymond Dyer. Dyer performed a unique rendition of ’Something inside so strong’ which he adapted just for the students of the academy. We were all stunned and blown away by his incredible vocal ability.
In addition, we had a few staff members and students who were able to capture our imagination and give us a chance to reflect through their individual speeches. Year 10’s Gabriella Skrzypczyk gave us a reflective speech on her time at St Mark’s and all the things that have had a positive impact on her journey. Gui also from year 10, shared his team’s inspiring tale of resilience and persistence from losing to the same team two years in a row to come against them for the third time in a nail biting victory. Ms Ghansah and Ms Kingcombe joined the line-up of speakers to share the perspective of staff before The Very Reverend Andrew Nunn concluded proceedings with an insightful summary.
On the whole, it was a beautiful service that will be remembered for many years to come. A huge thank you to everyone who took part and helped make the day such a phenomenal success. Especially our very own Academy Chaplain, Reverend Andrew Wignal who worked extremely hard to make this celebration possible.