Please do not expect to be able to contact your daughter, or for her to make contact with you during school hours via her mobile phone or other device. This includes the sending of text messages between 08.45 and 16.00. The school office will ensure any necessary communication from you is passed to your daughter, and will also ensure that she can contact you during the school day should it be necessary.

On Thursday evening I joined our Housekeeping team in celebrating Sharon Armatage’s retirement as the Supervisor on the College Avenue site. Sharon has undertaken that role for over eight years and she has lead a team that unfailingly gets the school ready for when teachers and children return the next morning to carry on the process of learning.

Sharon never saw her role as simply being about Housekeeping. Whenever we had school events after school she would always be on hand to help visitors and to play an unobtrusive role in ensuring that everything went very smoothly. Our school could not run as successfully as it does without the knowledge, skill and good humour that colleagues like Sharon bring to their role. She is now going to take time travel round the UK by motorcycle with her husband, and to do even more charitable works.  We wish her all good fortune in her retirement, and I’m sure we shall be seeing her and some of her cakes in the future.

Friday was a day when we marked the point at which Year 11 came together as a cohort for the final time. It was a day full of events including a review of the year, a barbecue, the traditional staff v Year 11 rounders match (no idea who won). During the Final Assembly we presented books to those that have distinguished themselves in a particular subject, as well as the customary heart necklace, funded by the PTA. It was ever a very emotional occasion but it was lovely to see staff, pupils and parents share tea together and celebrate their time at Claires Court Senior Girls. We shall be seeing many of them next year as they will be joining what is going to be the largest Year 12 Sixth Form in our history.

At such events it is usual to look back but we should also look forward, and not just to the immediate future but by reversing our binoculars and seeing a world stretching away from us.

So apparently the current life expectancy for a 15 year old female is 84 years, and it will likely increase. Futurologists predict that the top jobs in the future will include things such as - memory augmentation therapists, avatar relationship managers and plant psychologists... alongside a plethora of jobs in information and digital technology and the health, therapy and caring professions. So a multiplicity of opportunities but also a multiplicity of challenges with problems - population growth, clean water, climate change, superbugs. I am confident that this generation of young people confident will solve those problems and challenges.

Over the next 5 to 10 years they will be seeking qualifications and beginning to acquire the skills and knowledge in areas of work that interest and stimulate them. Some will end with a string of letters after their names, others will be sought after as their work and professional reputations grow, and still others will change careers several times before finding the one that is right.

But is not their qualifications, or CV that will determine their future path -  it is the kind of person they are. Ultimately it is determined by the values against which they live their lives, the standards that  set for themselves. And I know that each and every one of them does understand what we mean by respect, responsibility, loyalty and integrity.

I thank them, sincerely and with great respect for all that you they given and contributed to Claires Court Senior Girls.

And to quote Shelley...Fear not for the future, weep not for the past