What is a Sunny Hill girl?

Head Girl, Sophie George says goodbye as she addresses the girls, parents and guests at Speech Day 2010 and answers the question, "what makes a typical Sunny Hill girl?"...

Ok, so the final bit is over for us, we’ve put on the dress, picked up our books and the next chapter of our lives begins. It’s exciting: you’ve heard for yourself the interesting destinations we each have. But this is all terrifying. We knew we would have to at some point but the time has finally arrived for us to leave. So what is it about Sunny Hill that we are really going to remember? The impressive awards we’ve picked up, our exam results, how hard we’ve worked? I don’t think so, no. I won’t remember these. We are going to remember the extraordinary people who have truly influenced us. Not the people from history that we study in our lessons, but our friends. It is the girls that I will never forget and perhaps struggle without. So what makes one of these typical Sunny Hill girls?

Apart from beauty, stacks of intelligence and charm? We are in fact, unique. It is very difficult to put a label on us. An important lesson which we all learn from this school is that blending in is boring.

We learn to like ourselves and are not afraid to speak our minds. We take chances and try new things. One of my friends just fearlessly walked up the steps to this stage in six and a half inch heels, and managed not to stumble! Another one of my friends successfully ran a school newspaper during her third year of suffering from serious ME – amazing. If someone tells us we can’t do something, we will ask “why not?” and try. Are we concerned about competing against men in the future? No, why on earth would we? We aim high and have the confidence to do so. But this confidence does not mean that we have to be aggressive.

Kindness is a form of confidence. There have been moments in my school life when I have been too weak to accept help, and it has taken my friends’ courage to continue to offer their support. We really have got each others’ backs covered here.

Not only do we care for our friends in times of darkness, but we feel genuine happiness when we see them reach their goals – we may be quite competitive at times, but we truly love to see our friends succeed. The word cynical is not in most Sunny Hill girls’ vocabulary.

The acceptance of one another at this school is something which makes us stand out. Over the past few years we’ve grown up together and we really don’t always get along perfectly but we have the courage to forgive our friends when they are being difficult. And ultimately, we now love each other’s very weird and wonderful ways.

However, there has been a big concern among the Upper Sixth for a while now…

We are individual, different; we have a very unique sense of humour….but who is going to want to know us? Will we be accepted anywhere else? Will we be rejected for our leopard print clogs, excessive talking and fake tan? Who will remind us to go to lessons when we get lost doodling in the art block? Who will play sardines with us? What are people going to say when we turn up to a sports match in a gold cape just because we felt like it that day?

Whatever happens, I’ve learnt from being at Sunny Hill that there are people in the world who will care for you and take you as you are – these are the people I want to stay friends with. If we are to come across people in the future who are offended and reject us for standing out – then surely they aren’t the sort of people we should wish to mix with?

This year I have seen many visits from Old Girls, talking about their memories of Sunny Hill. They re-tell stories of what mischief they got up to. It is interesting to see that these women do not talk about who they are and what they have done, but what they did at school which really made them laugh. Which goes to show that Sunny Hill girls value the important things in life: we pursue happiness above anything else.

I’m still not sure what I will do without all of you. I’ve been avoiding the thought for about two years now. Today is difficult but the happiness I feel for you all, walking across this stage, can only be reassurance that this isn’t goodbye. We feel excited for each other, and can’t wait to see what amazing and diverse things we each go on to do.

So I really have tried my best to describe a Sunny Hill girl to you, but it is impossible to give you a specific label. These girls are all too different. But what every one of them seems to have is that they stand out from the crowd and they understand the importance of loyalty to one another.

I’d like to read to you an extract of Roald Dahl talking in an interview with Brian Sibley. He says, “I think probably kindness is my number one attribute in a human being. I’ll put it before any of the things like courage or bravery or generosity or anything else. Or brains even; brains is one of the least. You can be a lovely person without brains, kindness – that simple word. To be kind – it covers everything, to my mind. If you’re kind that’s it.”

We don’t all leave this school with amazing grades, or knowing exactly what we want to do – but we leave knowing ourselves, which I think is most important. It really is you – the girls – who make this school what it is. So carry on doing what you do best – look after each other and have the courage to be kind…but don’t always be good, because that’s every so dull!