Why must we remember?

Carol Skewes, Headteacher
November 13, 2017

We mark Remembrance each November and remember because civilisations and societies live by memory. What we forget, we can repeat. What we remember, we may be able to guard against. Indeed, it is only by handing on what we have learned (often at great and terrible cost) that the human race has a chance of remembering and learning and progressing.

That is why Cornelius Vermuyden School offered our own recognition of Remembrance every day between Monday 6 and Friday10 November 2017. Moreover, and at the Canvey Island Paddocks on Sunday 12 November and Saturday at the Knightwick centre, Canvey, Cornelius Vermuyden students stood in silence to remember the lives sacrificed in the name of hope and freedom. That is why it is right for us to continue to remember those men and women who forsake their tomorrow for our today.

As you know, Remembrance Sunday is one of the key events in the life of Canvey Island, bringing all sections of the community together in a solemn and dignified act of remembrance. Representing our school this year with distinction were Nathan Barlow (Head Boy), Macy French (Head Girl) and Angel Maskell (Year 7). On Saturday 11 November, Armistice Day, Mrs Halpin was joined at The Knightswick Centre by Lewis Blatcher, Grace Smith, Olivia Crabb and McKenzie Andrews.

So much in human affairs is a matter of handing on to a new generation – our young students are that new generation and our services a sincere part of that process. Cambodia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan all remind us that conflict is far from being a single or isolated event. Genocide and war have returned again and again to seemingly prove that mankind does not learn from the past.

However, schools surely teach us the opposite: that mankind is a learning animal. While we may (from time to time) replay old tragedies and old mistakes, we are not destined to do so. Young people can learn from their mistakes and can forge for themselves a successful and fulfilling and better tomorrow – that is one reason why a career in education is so satisfying and inspiring. That must always be our hope.

The message of Remembrance is simple: there are many faiths, cultures, languages and religions – but only one world in which those may be shared. Each person is part of a greater whole. Each person matters.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.