Year 6 returned from a fantastic week away at PGL with exciting tales of adventure, zip wires, giant swings, fun and friendship, river studies and much more besides. Well done everyone for demonstrating what’s best on a Claires Court residential - camaraderie, laughter, collaboration and exploration.

House Poetry on Tuesday morning was a truly uplifting event. The event provided entertainment, enjoyment and a truly inspiring range of performances and range of poetry. Pleasingly plenty demonstrated their wonderful creativity having written their own. Mrs Vine organised the competition and the audience were awed by Reception pupils and transfixed by the elder boys. Mrs Ward and Mrs Webster were amazing judges and it was just delightful to be able to recognise the progression and self confidence that the finalists exuded. For the record, Windsor and Fawley were joint winners with Cliveden and Dorney both tied just a couple of points behind.

Year 5 have been discovering all about others from the Southern Hemisphere recently and earning rave reviews from the Purple Mash platform and Mr Rowan with their fantastic blogging with Wentworth School, Auckland, New Zealand. We all enjoyed the Maori song in the Celebration Assembly today.

Further events to look forward to as the term draws to a conclusion are House Football which is always fiercely contested. The boys always respond well to plenty of positive support from parents and we are all very excited about the House Cross Country which for the first time will have both boys and girls running energetically on Monday 5 April. Will the gap to Cliveden be narrowed by the end of term with 8 discs left to be battled over?.

Battles and World War Two have been a great hook for Year 6 this term, digging for victory, empathetic sessions in the cellar as an air raid shelter all add to their understanding whilst an online visit from Winston Churchill today added much to their learning. .

Next week we look forward to charity week. The boys and their teachers have been making plans for many exciting fundraising activities. Please remind the boys to bring a little money each day to participate in the fun. It is all for a good cause with the money raised going to Schools Drive, a Local Charity founded by Mrs Moore (Mum to Max, Dylan and Isabella) and Mrs Cox (Mum to Charlie & Thomas). We welcomed Mrs Moore and Mrs Cox in on Tuesday to talk about the amazing work they do for local charities, helping to supply them with uniform and school equipment. Thank you so much to both of you for coming in and speaking with us. We will also be supporting Ukraine as our Global Charity. Additional donations can be made here.

As we near the end of the Lent Term, I can’t help but reflect on what we were all thrown into this time 2 years ago. I was on maternity leave and watching on from afar whilst all the staff worked so hard to solve the new way of learning (for then) - 'homeschooling'! How far we have come…

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy this stunning weather!

Best wishes

Mrs Kirby