18/07/2026
Our Year 6 leavers poem from Mrs Goold 🥳✨🎓
There are some years that quietly pass us by.
And then there are years that change the world.
Year 6...
Yours did both.
In September 2019, you walked through these gates for the very first time.
Tiny shoes.
Oversized jumpers.
Nervous smiles and Big dreams.
Some held tightly to a parent's hand.
Some couldn't wait to wave goodbye.
Some skipped through the classroom door as though they'd been waiting for this moment all their lives.
Reception was everything it should have been.
You painted pictures that somehow always ended up on your sleeves.
Built towers that reached for the sky.
Sang songs a little too loudly.
Made friends over blocks, role play and muddy puddles.
You were learning what school was all about.
How to share.
How to play.
How to belong.
Then...
March arrived.
A month that would become part of history.
And everything stopped.
Not because you had done anything wrong.
But because the whole world had suddenly, in a single moment, completely changed.
One day you were sitting on the carpet listening to stories.
The next...
The classroom was empty.
The playground fell silent.
The gates were closed.
The world pressed pause.
While many people remember lockdown for working from home or endless video calls...
You remember it because your childhood changed.
Reception should have ended with picnics, laughter and memories made together.
Instead, you found yourselves learning phonics at the kitchen table.
Seeing your teachers through computer screens.
Doing PE with Joe wicks
Waving to friends through windows.
Wondering when life would feel normal again.
Then September came.
Year 1.
The school was open...
But it wasn't quite the school you remembered.
You came back with courage in your hearts.
And hand sanitiser on your hands.
There were bubbles that couldn't mix.
One-way systems that everyone had to follow.
Adults behind masks.
Windows open, even on the coldest days.
You learnt to keep your distance...
At an age when all children really want to do is play side by side.
Just as things began to feel familiar again...
January arrived.
Another lockdown.
Back to kitchen tables.
Back to online lessons.
Back to waving through screens instead of across classrooms.
For many adults, COVID was a difficult chapter.
For you...
It was your childhood.
Children have an extraordinary way of reminding adults that even when life feels uncertain, joy can still be found.
And that’s what you did, every single time the doors reopened...
So did you.
You returned.
You smiled.
You learnt.
You laughed.
And little by little, the laughter grew louder than the silence.
The bubbles disappeared.
The arrows were peeled from the floors.
and The masks came off.
The playground became noisy once again.
And while the world was finding its feet...
You were finding your wings.
We've watched you grow from those tiny Reception children into the remarkable young people sitting before us today.
You've grown from children who needed help tying their shoelaces...
Into young people ready to take on secondary school.
You've discovered talents.
Built friendships.
Faced challenges.
Made mistakes.
Learnt from them.
Lifted one another up.
We've watched confidence replace nerves.
Friendships grow stronger.
Voices become louder.
Dreams become bigger.
You've tackled fractions and lead assemblies.
Performed on stage.
Represented your school with pride.
Conquered SATs.
Cheered each other on.
Picked one another up after difficult days.
And discovered that success isn't measured only by scores or grades, but by courage, kindness and the choices we've made.
And year 6, you’ve become a year group that will always be remembered.
Not because you were the children of COVID.
But because you never let COVID define who you would become.
You are the children who learnt resilience before most people could even spell the word.
Who discovered kindness when the world needed it most.
Who proved that even after the darkest storm...
The brightest rainbows can still appear.
So today, as you leave Charlton Manor, don't think about what was lost.
Think about what was found.
Strength.
Friendship.
Courage.
Compassion.
You are part of a generation that learnt one of life's greatest lessons far earlier than most:
That life can change in an instant.
That the people around you matter.
That kindness is never wasted.
And that even after the darkest winter...
Spring always returns.
As you walk through these gates for the final time, carry those lessons with you.
Be brave enough to try.
Be kind enough to lift others.
Be curious enough to keep asking questions.
Be resilient enough to stand up every time life knocks you down.
Because if you could begin your school journey through a global pandemic...
If you could lose so many moments that children should just simply have...
If you could return to bubbles, masks, one-way systems and endless hand sanitiser...
And still become the funny, caring, talented and inspiring young people sitting before us today...
Then there is very little this world can place before you that you cannot overcome.
So don't just walk into secondary school.
Walk in with confidence.
Walk in with compassion.
Walk in knowing that you've already overcome something that will be written about in history books.
So go.
Be brave.
Be curious.
Be kind.
Dream big.
Work hard.
Look after each other.
Write the next chapter.
Fill it with laughter.
Fill it with adventure.
Fill it with kindness.
And wherever life takes you, never forget where your story began.
Because once a Charlton Manor child...
Always a Charlton Manor child.
Year 6, from all of us, thank you and good luck
