Year 13 Graduation: Confidence, Creativity and Courage

June 30th 2025

Development and Alumni Senior School News

The sun shone brightly on Saturday, 28 June as we came together with the Class of 2025 and their families and guests to celebrate all they have achieved, wish them luck, and give them a warm #AlwaysAlleyns welcome into our thriving alumni community!

The morning started with the traditional Year 13 Gillman & Soame year group photo on the front lawn before a packed St Barnabas audience enjoyed a memorable Graduation Ceremony. It was a fitting venue for the event, having been the site of so many services and shows during the students’ time at school.

Led by Head of Upper School Ms Smith, the service also took in addresses from the Head, Jane Lunnon, the Chaplain Liz Lander, each Head of House and the School Captaincy team, Esmé (Spurgeon's 2025), Lola (Tulley’s2025) and Eddie (Brown’s 2025).

The audience enjoyed the sounds of All Cappella Choir singing Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies as well as some welcoming words from the President of the Edward Alleyn Club, double-BAFTA winning casting director Aisha Bywaters (Brown’s 2002).

Blue birds singing a song, nothing but blue skies from now on, never saw the sun shining so bright, never saw things going so right

Mrs Lunnon used one of our last opportunities to speak to Year 13s all together to acknowledge what they have each given the school, to send them on their way with our warmest good wishes and admiration and to offer a few useful nuggets of advice that might, perhaps, come in handy one day.

She reminded Year 13s that their education isn’t finishing here:

“If we have done our job well...then what we’ve actually done is prepare you for a life of learning. David Foster Wallace, the US author of Infinite Jest (which I warmly recommend by the way), famously pointed out in a graduation speech he was giving that ‘your education really is the job of a lifetime, and it starts now’. As you are leaving school, the real, joyful, endlessly stimulating and challenging job of finding out who you are, what you are for, what’s out there, and how glorious our world is; that is all ahead for you and it starts now, as you head out into the world and make it sing.”

Head out into the world and make it sing

Each Head of House paid tribute to their charges and House leadership team, with Head of Tulley’s Mrs Jenney speaking for all with warmth and wit when she said:

“Watching you grow up into such a talented, kind, and gloriously shambolic collective has been nothing short of a joy. You’re a year group I won’t forget – and not just because of the paperwork. You’ve left your mark (metaphorically, mostly), and I hope you take with you memories that last a lifetime.”

The School Captains referenced some of the key points of their Alleyn’s career, taking in Lower School with “the terrifying brilliance” of Mrs de Salis, and the Covid years along the way. Their speeches embraced the whole year group, from those who started in Alleyn’s Junior School right through to the welcoming in Year 12 of “40 amazing new additions, who reshaped our year for the better”.

Rounding off the School Captain and Vices speech, Esmé thanked families, teaching and support staff for their guidance, before finishing:

These past years have been full of laughter, challenges, and growth. We’re so proud to have been part of this incredible group of people. Stay in touch, and good luck out there.

EAC President Aisha reminded those gathered that the day “might feel like the end of something, but it’s actually a beginning – a doorway into a world that’s wide open and waiting for you.” Drawing from her professional experience, she told Year 13s (now young alumni):

“In my job as a casting director, I spend a lot of time looking for the right person for a role. And the thing I’ve learned time and time again is this: the people who stand out aren’t the ones trying to be what they think we want — it’s the ones who show up as themselves. Maybe not always knowing exactly who they are but trying their hardest to stay true to who they are in the present moment. If you believe in yourself you can move mountains.”

EAC President Aisha Bywaters (Brown's 2002) delivers her welcome address

Aisha urged the Leavers to make the most of the EAC community stating that “life is richer when you stay connected to where you came from, even as you grow into who you are becoming.”

She concluded:

I hope you go forward with confidence, creativity, and a little bit of courage. The world needs your voice — and I can’t wait to see where it takes you.

All those gathered joined together in song before Rev Liz Lander concluded the service with a prayer for the Leavers, who were then greeted with moving applause as they exited the church with their Heads of House.

The gathering continued in the Memorial Garden, where refreshments were served and families and friends had the opportunity to capture the moment with photos of the day.

It was a wonderful end to the Graduation Ceremony, offering a little bit of extra time to contemplate and appreciate both the day and the journey (past, present and future), with typical Alleyn’s friendship and conviviality. Always Alleyn’s indeed.

View the Flickr album below, or visit the album directly here.

Flickr album: 2025 Graduation Day | Height: auto | Theme: Default | Skin: Default Skin