Jessica Baker Memorial Award

At this year's Sheldon School Awards Evening we will be introducing a new award, the Jessica Baker Memorial Award, celebrating a young student that demonstrates the very best of our Sheldon Values - to be kind, be brave and be the best you.

Jessica Baker was a former Sheldon Student and Head Girl who passed away recently. Before the school year began, Jessica's family and friends gathered to dedicate a bench in her honour and plant a cherry tree that will bloom outside our Refectory and fill our Quad with pink blossoms - Jessica's favourite colour. Her family has very generously sponsored the Jessica Baker Memorial Award so that her legacy at our school will continue.

Sheldon was a very special place for Jessica. She flourished here and thoroughly enjoyed her time at the school. During here time at Sheldon, she achieved so much. In Year 11 she was Head Girl, the lead in the school production of Cinderella and also achieved great results in her GCSE Exams. When the Baker family decided they wanted to create something in Jessica’s memory, Sheldon School was their natural choice.

Jessica’s family want to honour her memory in a way that will give opportunity to others through the creation of the Jessica Baker Memorial Award. They also wanted to create a place for students and teachers alike to reflect and to take time during the busy school day. Jessica's memorial in our Quad created a place of great beauty that will continue to grow and blossom long after us. Jessica’s memorial bench will be a place to sit and take time to think; a place to share lunch with a friend; to learn lines from a play or to catch up on last night’s homework before going into class. It will be a place to share a problem with a friend and a place to breathe if you are feeling overwhelmed. 

Jessica will forever be a part of Sheldon School and it is thanks to the generosity of her family, other students will also get the opportunity to flourish here just as Jessica did.