Remembrance Day Commemoration at SCHS

12/11/2025

Today, our Senior School community gathered for a poignant Remembrance Day service, honouring the sacrifices of those who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars and in conflicts since, so that we may live in peace.

Our Head, Ms Cathy Ellott, opened the service by reflecting on the legacy of remembrance within our own school:

“Our school moved onto this site in 1992, but earlier in the 20th century it was Battersea Boys School. Boys from this school went off to war to fight, and that is why we have our own war memorial here in school to remember the sacrifice of the lives lost of those young men who died at war, having spent their school days in exactly the same rooms where we spend our time today.”

This year, our students shared a powerful narrative often overlooked in traditional accounts of wartime: the story of women in the armed forces. From the pioneering nurses and drivers of the First World War, to the codebreakers, engineers, and pilots of the Second World War, and finally to those serving in every branch of today’s armed forces, our pupils traced the journey of women’s courage and contribution through history.

Sixth Form students Ellie, Eva, Lottie, Hakimah and Kinzah each spoke movingly, highlighting how women’s roles evolved—from supporting the war effort to leading within it—and reminding us that only seven years have passed since all combat restrictions for women were lifted in the British Army.

Reflecting on the continuing suffering caused by war today, Hakimah reminded us:

“We gather under a global shadow of human suffering—in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and in South Sudan, and with conflicts elsewhere too. We hold in our hearts the sense of shared humanity that, today of all days, should unite us all.”

Ms Ellott invited the Head Girls to lay wreaths at the school’s war memorial before leading the community into a moment of stillness and reflection. Amaia then gave a solemn reading of stanzas from “For the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Following the reading, the school observed a two-minute silence, marked by the haunting notes of the bugle.

In closing, Ms Ellott reminded the community that remembrance is not only about history, but about humanity:

“We find consolation in our shared commitment to a sense of our common humanity; in our striving for peace; in our daily acts of love, generosity and kindness; and in the consolation that music and poetry bring to this sad time of remembrance.”

The service was a powerful reminder that remembrance is both a tribute to the past and a call to compassion in the present; an enduring message for our times.