27 June 2026
At Speech Day on Saturday 20 June, our inspiring guest speaker, humanitarian and human rights advocate (and former Woldingham Head Girl) Isabel Basile, chose “seizing opportunities” as her theme – one very relevant to our Upper Sixth leavers, but also to all students, to whom opportunities present themselves every day. Issie’s experience is that the opportunities that change our lives rarely arrive looking life-changing - often they are disguised as something smaller: a chance to try something new, a challenge, or a leap into the unknown. Over the years, Issie has come to believe there are three key ingredients to seizing meaningful, fulfilling and rewarding opportunities: passion, principles and courage.
Issie explained that she decided to come to Woldingham because she found she would be able to do horse riding here; something she was, and still is, passionate about. From this seemingly small step, much followed, as Issy described how Woldingham “gave me the freedom and courage to keep exploring my interests,” and it was here that she discovered her love for the Spanish language and for debating the philosophy of religion, both of which have played a key part in shaping her career.
Issie clearly enjoyed presenting prizes to students for their impressive academic and co-curricular achievements, as well as their many and varied contributions to our community. She and the Woldingham community gathered in the Sports Hall – and viewing from around the world via the livestream – also enjoyed hearing Carys, Year 11, sing her own composition Hold My Hand, accompanied by Upper Sixth musicians Hannah, Nancy and Norien; Lilico and Sophie, Upper Sixth, perform a beautiful piece by Dvořák on violin and piano; and a joyous excerpt from November’s Sixth Form production of Little Shop of Horrors.
In the Head’s address, Mrs Baillie spoke about the importance of joy and shared examples of where this fuels us at Woldingham – from solving a tricky maths problem to a game of tag on Pergola Lawn - explaining that, “It is important that we, as educators, create an environment where children are happy, where they feel safe, secure and are supported, because when they are happy, almost anything is possible.” Mrs Baillie reminded us of some of the highlights in another fantastic year full of successes, as well as talking about students’ quiet determination day in, day out, and looked ahead to an exciting future with Woldingham in the vanguard of developments in female education.
In her entertaining and very emotional speech, Waishe, Head Girl 2025-2026, explained that Woldingham has helped the Upper Sixth “grow into ourselves and become people we can be proud of.” She also explained that the letter W has played a big part in her life, though her name, her primary school’s name and, of course, Woldingham, and she used it to gift some advice to her fellow students: Work hard – that should be at the core of everything; be willing to try new things; worry less and life will become a little bit easier; widen your circle – replace awkward smiles with jokes and conversations; and wait – time at Woldingham passes too quickly, so enjoy the present before you rush to the future. Wise advice indeed.