I hope you all enjoyed the Great British Summer Fete at Ridgeway on Saturday and congratulations to the Junior Boys PTA for staging the event and huge thanks to staff, parents, students and pupils for your support, energy and sense of fun. The Senior Girls certainly showed their entrepreneurial skills by organising a wide variety of stalls.

I hope you have had an opportunity to see the A Level Art, Photography and Textiles work displayed in the chapel. It was brilliant seeing the diversity and creativity of our senior pupils coming together in one showcase event.

On Tuesday the whole school was out for the Senior Sports Day, and for once sun protection was required. Fabulous to see both skilled and highly trained athletes, along with those who bravely competed to honour their house. Such was the competition that for the first time the race was decided in the last relay which saw the G10 St Ignatius clinch the Houses trophy by one point over St Francis, with 161 points etc - amazing. The pupils were entertained at the end of the competition by the staff who adorned their trainers for the staff relay in a highly competitive race. Thank you to the mothers of our Sports Captains, Mrs Ruinet and Mrs Wallis for presenting the medals on one of the hottest days of the year!

Next week on Wednesday night we are looking forward to the Talent Show and Year 10s will also be busy next Thursday when they are invited to join the Sixth Form team for the day to gain an early insight to life beyond GCSEs.

We will be saying goodbye to a number of staff, some after a short time with us, some who have spent a significant part of their professional working life at Claires Court.

Mrs Hawker is sadly leaving Claires Court after 17 years at school. Mrs Hawker has been an amazing colleague to work with and pupils, parents and staff will miss her endless support and words of wisdom through a gentle and reassuring approach. She is looking forward to a fresh start and new adventures up in the north of the country and we wish her all the best.

We are delighted to announce that Mrs Ruddick will be stepping up as Assistant Head of Pastoral having been mentored by Mrs Hawker throughout this last year. Ms Sahota will be replacing Mrs Ruddick as Head of Year 11.

Mrs Harwood, our Teacher of German who has inspired our linguists is sadly leaving us to spend more time with her family and she will be replaced by Mrs Barker who is joining us from Europa School Culham, Oxford where she was teaching full time.

Mrs Anderson is leaving us to take up a more permanent role at St Mary's School in Ascot and finally we are saying farewell to a another long serving member, Julie Drysch. Julie is the school’s science technician who not only prepares the practical equipment and makes up the solutions in the labs but also instructs and assist the teachers and pupils with their practical skills and class demonstrations. Julie has been a valued colleague and lead professional within Claires Court Community and we wish her well in her new career.

Have a lovely weekend.