The River Thames outside DLD College London

Open Evening and Remembrance

19th November 18

DLD College London Open Evening

This week we had our first Open Evening of the year for prospective students and parents with a record attendance. Our students were a real credit to their parents and the College. The speakers articulated their thoughts on their experiences with great passion and aplomb. We are an outstanding College (the results speak for themselves) and a dedicated team who go over and beyond the call of duty. If any of our Year 11 students’ parents didn’t get a chance to come in on the evening or would like to visit again, then please do get in touch with our Admissions Team who will be only too happy to organise a personal visit for you. The feedback from the evening has been tremendous; the new Wellbeing Centre at the heart of the College is a great talking point as well as the development of our new Digital eHub and Library spaces and of course, the excellent pastoral care and teaching. The introduction of the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh award (my thanks to the DoE representatives who were there to support the evening) and the trip to Nepal this summer (spaces are now very limited) are just some of the changes and opportunities that we are offering our students. Football and netball matches continued to dominate this week against Ealing Independent College and Putney High School. It was wonderful to hear the excitement of a Year 12 student who bounded towards my office earlier this week to tell me all about how the Netball team managed to put up a good fight against a strong Putney High School team – a tremendous feat and a memory, which will last with that young woman for a long time to come. I hope she can draw on her experience on that court and use it as inspiration in her everyday life.

It was a time to remember this week and commemorate those former DLD students, who gave their lives during the various conflicts. The College’s Armistice Day Remembrance service on Monday remembered them, with Tom Robertson, our Head of Alumi Relations, also present. Toby Hall, our new Premises Manager read the poignant Kohima Prayer whilst members of the Brass Academy played the Last Post and Reveille (not an easy thing to do) while the Heads of College and students read out the names of the fallen, read a war poem and laid the wreath of remembrance. It was a moving service and I hope our students gain and learn much from this and the week’s experience – they are the next generation who I hope will work tirelessly to avoid such conflicts from happening again in the future and will endeavour to continue to bring peace in our world. We have much to thank the courageous and selfless acts of these young men (some as young as our Year 11s) who gave their lives in fighting the Great Wars and other conflicts so that we could enjoy our freedom today and tomorrow – we will remember them, always.

Irfan H Latif,

Principal

DLD College London Open Evening