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from left to right: Ruth L (outgoing Head Girl); Pauline Edgar (Principal); Barbara Woodward OBE; Clare King (Chairman of Governors); Emma H (outgoing Head Girl's Team)
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The International Director of the UK Border Agency, Barbara Woodward OBE, was the guest of honour at Speech Day on Saturday 3 July. For the first time ever a Year 7 girl, Eliza T, spoke to the audience of about 600 girls, parents, staff and guests about her first year at the school. Although Eliza was very nervous beforehand, she spoke with great confidence and was followed by the outgoing Head Girl, Ruth L, who gave her recollections of the past seven years at Queenswood.
After presenting 100 special awards and prizes, Barbara gave an inspirational and uplifting speech, paying tribute to Eliza and Ruth and all the girls, encouraging them to keep on learning. Barbara quoted the Swedish economist, Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-61) who was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961 and who said: “We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours.” The frame of our destiny is fixed, for example our race and birthday, and we cannot change them. However, we can choose how we react to situations – the attitude we have to life’s circumstances and challenges.
Barbara urged the audience to be bold and not to give up and once having achieved one goal, to redefine your ambitions. Dame Ellen McArthur was cited as a superb, young role-model. Barbara also encouraged us to enjoy the love and support we get from our family and friends and to cultivate positive relationships. She gave an account of the two aid workers held hostage in Chechnya whose ordeal was made more bearable because of the efforts of their friends, families and colleagues. Finally, Barbara encouraged everyone to celebrate their lives ‘to fill the framework of your destiny’.
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