Talking of leadership, the Year 6 boys yet again amazed our visiting parents at Open Day on Tuesday, demonstrating effortlessly their confidence, their modesty and the pride they show for their school. To celebrate their achievements, they are all either taking part in a Bushcraft experience or away in Cornwall on Rugby Tour. Either way, they are having lots of fun, and do have a look at some of their pictures in our photo gallery.

The Under 10A rugby side enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the OPS Festival on Wednesday. This is one of the hardest tournaments that we enter which hosts some of the top teams in the country. The boys were awesome, with their rucking and support play being noted as a real strength. They beat Davenies and Chandlings schools, drawing with a very strong Moulsford side, before going down in some close contests to The Dragon School and OPS. Congratulations to all the boys who took part. They did especially well as they were without their coach! Mr Blakeley stepped in to guide the boys to their excellent results, but where was Mr Butterfield you may ask?

At 1.41am on Tuesday morning, Mrs Butterfield gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Archie Edward George, weighing in at 7lb 9oz. Mr and Mrs Butterfield, along with their first child, Phinn, are over the moon and I am delighted to report that mother and baby are doing very well. Mr Butterfield will be enjoying a few weeks paternity leave, with Mr Tony Blakeley taking his place as a maths, sports, and form teacher. Many congratulations also go to Miss Sian Barrow, our outstanding new EYFS teacher, who graduated with a Masters degree in Education on Sunday. A superb achievement.

On the topic of success, I would like to share the wonderful news that Joseph Brittain in Year 6 has just qualified for the National Tennis Championships for his age group. Joseph is such a talented player (I have seen him hit a ball at my local tennis club, he hits it hard!!) and this is an achievement to be proud of. He is one of the top 32 children in the country for his tennis, and we all wish him well for the tournament.

A pupil has also been dazzling his class mates with stories and photographs from his amazing trip to Ghana. Please see our photo gallery to have a look at his superb project.

This weekend we hold the annual PTA Chess festival in our sports hall, and this year we have over 60 boys and girls taking part in this registered and highly competitive event. Best of luck to all of the pupils taking part, and a huge thank you to our hardworking PTA who have organised with Mr Hogg a super chess meeting.

Just as a note, you will see that our new overflow car park is getting quite muddy, as we would expect at this time of year. Please do be prepared if at all possible to park on this grass as we get busier and possibly bring some appropriate footwear. When the days get shorter, it is harder to see where exactly you are walking! Thank you for your patience.

I am tentatively getting ready for Fright Night this evening, and I am sure I will see many of you there - I haven’t attended a school disco for a while and am suitably nervous! Thank you again for your support of the school.

Justin Spanswick