2016 was another landmark year in our history, as it marked the year that the very first Year 7 pupils completed their Shiplake journey and left the College as Year 13s.
A drinks reception was held to celebrate the seven years of their time at the College, and to thank them – and their parents – for taking that leap of faith with the school, and signing them up as the first Year 7 pupils that Shiplake had ever had.
Freddy Ellis, Liam Peachey, Scott Parker, Chris Baker, Sam Collett Fuzesi, Billy Sayers, George Greenaway and Alex Bradley are eight of the ten pupils who completed the first ever cycle of seven years at the College.
During prize giving, Head of College, Greg Cooke, upon finishing his speech to parents, pupils and staff, handed over the metaphorical baton to Emily Wilkinson. Marking yet another historic moment for Shiplake as this was the first female to be appointed as Head of College, which she begun in September 2016.
There was massive excitement over the summer holidays when Old Viking William Satch (07O) headed to Rio in order to compete in the 2016 Olympics. Following a successful four years after achieving a Bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics, Satch won three successive World Championship titles, and was selected to row in the Men's Coxed Eight for Great Britain. Four years of incredibly hard work, training camps, European Championships and World Cup golds later, and Satch became an Olympic Gold medallist! He was part of first crew since the Sydney Olympics in 2000 to have achieved the Gold in the Men’s Coxed Eight – a crew with another Old Viking, Ben Hunt-Davis (90W). Will Satch has been rowing in this crew since 2013, and joined Hunt-Davis as an Olympic Champion Old Viking! It must be something in the water…
Also in 2016:
- Shiplake became one of the first schools in the country to introduce a mobile phone ban.
- The College played host to the inaugural ‘Henley-on-Food Festival’.
- 12 year old pupil Jamie Liu was one of three boys selected to go to Doha for the 2016 International Table Tennis Federation World Hopes Week and Challenge.
