... having mulled wine and mince pies has seemed appropriate at our Christmas Shows last week. It was a privilege to be invited to see our younger actors and singers put on such a professional and skilful performance to a hall full of parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

On Tuesday night spirits were high, the chapel was buzzing with Christmas fever, as our young musicians and drama performers took to the stage at the Senior Performance Platform. The pupils along with staff our also preparing for our Carol Services on Tuesday of next week... wow they will have earned their figgy pudding!

We have been absolutely blown away by your generosity and the Salvation Army arrived at 11.00am this morning and took away boxes and boxes of gifts - thank you so much, you will be making a huge difference to so many families.

Friday also means for most of us our first seasonal meal, along with Christmas Jumper Day, and for Year 10s the chance to be Elves as they helped our Junior pupils and Nursery welcome a very special Christmas guest who arrived in a triumph stag all the way from the North Pole.

Thank you to our amazing kitchen staff who worked hard to ensure over three hundred pupils and staff tucked into their Christmas Dinners on time!

It has been such a busy term with too many highlights to list them all here - I should give however a huge vote of thanks to all of my colleagues, and to all the pupils who have worked so hard throughout this term - in classrooms, on the sports field, in concerts, on the stage, and in all of our creative areas. We are rightly proud of the breadth and the depth of the progress and achievement of all our young people.

The PTA - well they’ve done us proud this term as well... professionally organised nearly new uniform sales, a fabulous Fright Night Junior Disco, marvellous support for our partner Senior Boys PTA for our Fireworks Spectacular, and for providing refreshments at so many of our school events.

I hope to see many of you at the Carol Services - Years 7 to 9 starting at 9.30am, and Year 10, 11 and Sixth Form at 10.50am, both of these at St Luke’s Church. In the afternoon, our Senior Girls will be enthusiastically taking part in the Inter-House Challenge which is a fantastic opportunity for house members to work together.  

Thank you for all of your help and support throughout the term, and we really value the partnership.