This is a transcript of Mr Gray’s address to Year 11 in this morning’s assembly.
Good morning.
We gather today to mark an important moment in the life of our school community. For our Year 11 students, this assembly represents the threshold between the familiar routines of daily school life and the significant challenge of the GCSE examinations that now lie ahead.
Before you take that step, I want to acknowledge the journey that has brought you to this point. Over the past few years, you have grown—not only in knowledge, but in maturity, character, and resilience. You have faced challenges – some of you very significant challenges - adapted to change, and demonstrated a determination that reflects well on you, your families, and this school.
In the coming weeks, you will enter the exam room behind you - where the atmosphere is quiet, focused, and purposeful. It is natural to feel a mixture of anticipation and apprehension. These feelings are shared by every student who has ever sat an important examination. What matters now is that you approach each paper with calmness, confidence, and integrity.
Your GCSEs are an opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned and how far you have come. They are not the sole measure of your worth, nor do they define your future in isolation. But they do matter, and they deserve your best effort.
As you prepare, I encourage you to remember a few key principles:
Maintain perspective. One difficult exam does not determine the outcome of the entire series.
Look after yourselves. Rest, nutrition, and balance are essential to performing at your best. Stay off your phones as much as you can.
Support one another. A considerate word or gesture can make a meaningful difference to someone’s day.
Stay disciplined. Consistent revision and steady focus will serve you well. Even at this late stage, it’s not too late.
When the final exam is completed and you step out into the summer (and I well remember that glorious moment myself) you will do so having earned a sense of achievement that no one can take from you. You will be ready for the next stage—whether that is sixth form, college, training, or employment—with the foundations you have built here.
So, Year 11, as you leave this assembly, you do so with our best wishes and our pride in your progress. You have worked hard, you are prepared, and you are capable of meeting the challenge ahead. On behalf of the entire school, I wish you every success in your examinations and every happiness in the future that awaits you.
I’ll close with a couple of points which I hope in some way capture what IGS is about.
First – go out into the world, Year 11, not insisting on your rights – which so many folk are obsessed with today – but looking instead to work out what are your responsibilities. That’s the duty which comes with privilege. What is it that you can do to make a difference in the world?
Second – America has done great things for the world, and has been a great ally of Britain – but has done the world a great disservice by insisting, in the Declaration of Independence, on the “pursuit of happiness”. Happiness can’t be pursued. Happiness is the by-product of virtue. Doing the right thing, being kind and open-hearted, being a loyal friend and always forgiving others. Don’t pursue happiness – if you do, you’ll never find it. Pursue those virtues instead.
Whatever you do, we’ll be proud of the class of 2026, as alumni of IGS: Durham.
But we’ll be even prouder if we see in years to come that you’ve developed into young people of real virtue, making a difference in our world.