Every year staff and pupils wear something red in honour of Rosie Peto, a Channing girl who sadly died from cancer at the end of Year 10, ten years ago this year. There is a bench (‘The Awkward Bench’) in her name which overlooks the pitch at the back of the school site, with roses growing around it, and our annual remembrance of her passing always coincides with the Friday closest to her birthday.

This year’s memorial was particularly poignant as we welcomed to school three of Rosie’s friends from the Class of 2018, along with Rosie’s parents, brothers and aunt. Two of the friends, Maddy Hookway and Saskia Steinberg, have forged careers in film and television since leaving Channing. Their collaboration as script-writers and film-makers, which started at school when they made their year group’s leavers’ video, came to fruition last year with the creation of Type of Rain, a short film inspired by their experience of dealing with grief.

Maddy and Saskia talked in assembly about their own paths since Channing, about the wonderful person Rosie was and how the film came about. They shared how it brought together their developing skills as script writers and producers, their very different experience of grief and their discovery of cold water swimming as a therapeutic outlet.  In their film, their protagonist is a teenage girl who is struggling to process the loss of a school friend and who feels that all her other friends have been able to move on without her.  She discovers the power of a cold bath as an outlet for managing her emotions and the film, which spans just one day, charts a fraction of her progress in dealing with her grief. 

Saskia and Maddy also talked about the success that the film has had since they made it. It is being screened at various film festivals and is being championed by supporters at Paramount and Netflix, their respective employers. We wish them every success with this and, while it is not yet on general release, We are pleased to share the private link to their film with you in case you should wish to watch it: it really is a hard-hitting exploration of grief. After assembly the pair recorded a podcast as part of the award-winning Chatting with Channing series, which I also look forward to sharing soon.  

Their visit was important on a number of levels. It was, of course, a deeply personal reflection for Maddy, Saskia and Vicky on the loss of their friend and, for the Peto family, their daughter, sister and niece. It was also an inspiring opportunity for our current pupils to hear from two alumnae (although they agreed that they don’t feel like alumnae: “We’re still just Channing girls”, they exclaimed) about the exciting paths they have taken since school (including studying at UCLA, Nottingham and Trinity College, Dublin).

It highlighted most powerfully the strength and values of the Channing community. For nearly 700 people, the vast majority of whom never met Rosie, to wear red each year and commemorate her life, speaks volumes about our ethos and character as a school. Certainly Mr and Mrs Peto were overwhelmed to see the solidarity of the school in the assembly and moved by the fact that we continue to care about their daughter’s life here. We remember her as one of us: she wore the same uniform, she walked the same corridors, and she was a Channing girl.

The Rosie Peto Award was established in her name and is given annually to a girl in Year 11 who embodies the characteristics which defined her:

• Someone who’s constantly caring and cheerful
• Someone in the year who is always willing to cheer someone up when they look down and willing to listen to their problems
• Someone who always has a positive attitude 
• Someone who’s kind and generous
• A team player that always supports their year group.

The award is voted for by the year group and this year Mrs Peto was thrilled to present the award to the entirely fitting recipient, Anna RB.