The Waddesdon Voice

Our school magazine, the Waddesdon Voice, is published termly. It showcases our students’ achievements and their contributions to the school community and beyond. As its name suggests, the Waddesdon Voice provides a mouthpiece for our students. Each edition offers you a rich range of articles, think-pieces and reflections on how our students make a positive impact on society.

Each day we start school with an assembly. Whatever the weather outside, or the emotional weather inside, I find that the assembly usually brings joy, light and the sense of togetherness and belonging which encapsulate the Waddesdon Way.

In an assembly a few weeks ago, a Sixth Former, Sophie, talked to the students and staff about kintsugi, a Japanese artform which takes something valuable that has been broken and re-makes it so that it becomes even more beautiful. She explained, “No kintsugi art is the same, as no break pattern is the same. Each repaired pottery piece is unique. And the repair makes the pottery more valuable. We all have had moments in our lives that make us feel broken, and that can leave scars, but that’s what makes us who we are. So don’t hide your imperfections because they’re what make us beautiful.”

Another student, Lizzy, took this assembly as a source of inspiration for this year’s Christmas card which you can see printed here. Combined with words from Leonard’s Cohen’s song, Anthem, the message in the design is that it is through the cracks in our flawed lives that “the light gets in”.

This term’s Waddesdon Voice is, as ever, a source of light, hope and solace in a world that can often feel broken and even unmanageable at times. It shows our students’ hopeful engagement with difficult issues, demonstrates the richness of opportunities at Waddesdon and celebrates the light of learning. During this Christmas period, I sincerely hope that you will find light and comfort in the Christmas story, firm in the knowledge that the light shines even in the darkest of times. Whatever the words mean for you as you read this, I hope that you can both see, and let the light in’.

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light that leads to life.’ ”
John 8: v12