On Tuesday 5 November we celebrated the ECP’s 30th anniversary and Founders’ Day at Pražská křižovatka (Prague Crossroads), a spectacular meeting place in a former church founded by St Vaclav that is one of the projects of the Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation.
It was particularly welcome to be able to celebrate this year following the news that HM King Charles III has kindly agreed to continue as Royal Patron following his accession to the throne – the King was a Founder Patron of the College alongside President Vaclav Havel.
We were joined by two Founder Governors, Ann Lewis and Martyn Bond, as well as by Vanessa Ward, the daughter of Hubert Ward, the Founding Headmaster of the College, who died recently. Vanessa Ward spoke movingly about her memories of her father and the adventure of starting a new school in Prague. She presented a scrapbook of press cuttings from those days which will form part of the College’s archives.
As ever, it was the students who set the tone of the evening, with prize-winners, musical and dramatic performers and the stories of our Talent Award winners all demonstrating the imagination and creativity of ECP – staff, students and parents.
There was also a very impressive display of artwork. The highlight was an amazing model of the reconstructed and extended school building. It was built by Year 3 student and aspiring architect, Ariya Man, and was complete with the roof and lower floors lifting up automatically to reveal classrooms filled with 3-D printed plastic furniture.
