Yesterday, Concord’s students and staff were delighted to be able to celebrate School Photo Day as a whole school once again, following two years of unique circumstances. Due to Covid-19 disruptions, in 2020, Concord created an extensive collage of the 594 students on-roll at the College. In 2021 with some lessened restrictions, students and staff gathered on Concord’s Hall Meadow for a photo taken by a drone, spaced out in year group ‘bubbles’ to enable social distancing. This year, Concord was excited to welcome Tempest Photography back to the College for a professional whole-school photograph – a tradition dating back to 1982. Following the lunch break, students and staff in their hundreds gathered behind Concord’s Main Hall, before forming queues of ‘dark’ and ‘light’ attire and in height order, to help create the structure of the photograph. The Tempest team, in addition to Vice Principal (Pastoral) Mr Jeremy Kerslake on the mic, rallied the school together for the formal shot. In addition to a whole-school photo, other formal photos took place afterwards such as Lower School, Prefects and Monitors photograph, with students and staff dressed wonderfully for the occasion. After the photos, it was an opportune time for all students to socialise with one another from across all year groups, taking pride in themselves and the Concord community, snapping many joyful pictures and selfies with friends and teachers. Current Head Prefect, Barney said: “Seeing everyone able to take their own pictures with friends, classmates, and teachers served as a reminder of just how good it was to get back into Photo Day tradition and have the whole school together.” Fellow Head Prefect, Chloe-Nicole added: “With external exams just around the corner, it was a great opportunity for everyone to just let their hair down (literally in some cases!), make memories and simply have fun. “Some of us have now experienced every unique arrangement, from the extensive collage in 2020 to the drone photo in 2021, and now back to Concord’s traditional photo – we’ve come full circle!” The 2022 photo will soon be delivered, framed and showcased in Concord’s iconic Main Hall alongside a collection of others, enabling students, staff, parents, alumni and visitors to view and reminisce on a key event in the College’s history. Reflecting on the day, Principal, Dr Michael Truss said: “Any event that allows us to gather our entire student community is special, but it was particularly poignant to come together for our first full School Photo Day for three years. “Our students made a superb effort to turn out in their smartest outfits, the weather was favourable – just about – and it was wonderful to see so many smiling faces, with everybody enjoying themselves. “In addition to the official college pictures, I suspect that many thousands of pictures were taken by groups of friends, which will have recorded happy memories for many years to come.” Click here to view the School Photo Day 2022 gallery.