Mr Spanswick's Words Lent 3

My Heads Words have to begin with a thank you to our parents. Thank you for being so patient when collecting your sons from our school playground this week. If something could have gone wrong in the car park and driveway, it did! What with visiting teams not wanting to leave our warm tea room, with buses getting stuck in the fields, recovery vehicles becoming beached at the bottom of our driveway (tailbacks onto the A404), and the small matter of unfriendly weather, it is a marvel that we have managed to get to the end of the week unscathed! Again, thank you for your understanding, it is much appreciated by myself and my staff.

Year 3 welcomed back Mr Barber this week from his paternity leave. On cue, his beautiful daughter, Lily, has decided to start waking up most hours in the night! Mr Barber has been delighted with the progress his boys have made under Mr Blakeley’s tutelage, and his class are so happy to have their form tutor back.

Congratulations go to our General Knowledge Quiz team of Alex Peach, Marcus Carmen, Samuel Tschiesche and Jake Foster who performed very well at the Davenies tournament on Monday. With two rounds to go they were 2nd place and Mrs Vine was literally on the edge of her seat! Unfortunately several other teams had some brilliant final rounds and we finished slightly further down the 12 strong field, but we so proud of the boys efforts and performances. Special mention must go to Jake who as our Year 6 representative, motivated and led the team with real maturity.

Lots of pictures reflect our successes and challenges this week, and I was able to watch the Under 9 C, D and E groups play their matches against Gayhurst and Davenies on Tuesday. I was extremely impressed with how well the boys applied themselves, and there were a number of good results to emerge. Special mention must go to James Frize and Akash Rudrapatna who excelled in their roles, and I saw James save four certain goals with crucial tackles in defence. On Thursday I watched Hugo Lopez Guisado score his fifth goal of the week, along with arguably the display of the term so far, a brilliant defencive effort from Zack Sullivan. Zack normally plays further up the pitch, but slotted in for Mr Grose’s B team as a sweeper, and has now probably found his ideal position! Outstanding, and well done to all of our boys who have been competing this week.

Year 2 have been reading with great gusto in their 1:1 sessions, and I have been listening to how they are now considering not just storylines and characters, but subplots too. Mrs Thomson and Mrs Wood, along with our LSA’s have been working really hard to ensure the boys continue to take big strides in their love for books and for reading.

I visited Reception and Year 1 on a number of occasions this week - if you get the chance, do have a look at some of the wonderful displays the boys and the teachers have made, it is quite breathtaking. I invited a Headteacher from a neighbouring school over on Tuesday, and he was mesmerised at not only how the classrooms were presented, but the way the boys interact with the staff and the fact that without exception, they were all so happy.

This morning was without a doubt the most merits I have ever presented in assembly, and Year 3 and Year 5 have clearly been excelling themselves over the past five days. Best of luck goes to Gursahej Bakshi in Year 5 who is competing this weekend at the ISA National school swimming gala - more on this next week. My final word though must go to Oliver Todd in Year 6 - he took part in the Maidenhead Swimathon last week and raised £150 on his own for charity. If there was ever an example of a pupil putting the wellbeing others before himself, Oliver has shown it here.