Our U18 Tennis squad of Georgina, Hannah, Holly and Eva have just won the fourth round of the National Tennis Cup against Aylesbury High School, qualifying along with our U18 Senior Boys Squad for the National Tennis Finals in Nottingham... a four day tournament with the top sixteen schools in the UK. Absolutely amazing results, especially from a team so young!

The summer regatta season is well underway with all our crews putting in an awful lot of hard work to achieve success at the weekend in the local regatta at Marlow. All our crews accredited themselves well throughout the day and we ended up with an excellent win by our WJ15 quadruple scull crew who turned on the style in the final winning comfortably by a margin of two lengths. Congratulations to Hannah, Anishah, Nuala, Felicity and coxswain Anna who were a credit to the Claires Court School Boat Club.

Wednesday was a tremendous day at the ISA National Championships, with seven girls competing and eleven medals being won. The standard of this event continues to go from strength to strength and only the best athletes will medal. In an amazing discus competition Claudia, Year 9, broke the National Record. Jemima, Year 7, threw over 25m to win the Javelin with Kate, Year 10, finishing in 2nd place. Year 7 athlete Bethany won two gold medals after winning the relay and the hurdles. Rachel from Year 10, won the Long Jump and gained a 3rd place in the relay. Eleanor, Year 7, won a gold in the relay. Overall an amazing achievement, seven golds, one silver and two bronze medals; a great effort from all the girls involved and thank you to the PE Department for all their continued support and enthusiasm, very well done indeed!

New Girls Evening on Wednesday saw a steady stream of wide eyed Year 6s come into school and as they walked, some a little nervously, towards the hall they found themselves neatly stripped away from their parents. They had an hour or so of making new friends, meeting tutors and their senior prefects, thus beginning the process that enables them to feel part of a community. Parents were ushered into the chapel where they too began to form relationships with each other and with the teachers and staff who will be an integral part of their daughters lives over the next five years.

Thank you to our PTA for coping with the humid conditions yesterday at the second hand uniform sale where they raised over a thousand pounds. A special mention must go to Ann Jesseman who has run the secondhand uniform sales with military precision for the last 13 years which is a must when dealing with the complexities around such an event. Ann is stepping down and will continue to support our new crew of volunteers. Thank you also to Barbara McKee for all the work she has done over the last couple of years.  

So next week, Senior Girls Sports Day is on Thursday afternoon and Friday Year 10 will spend the morning with Senior Boys to hear about University and the diverse range of different opportunities now available to them post 18, along with a presentation from David Hyner. His ability to motivate and inspire young people is world renowned and they always leave his session with a real bounce in their step, and eyes definitely focussed on an aspirational future.

Our Sixth Form artists have their AS/A2 Art Exhibition in the chapel on the evening of Tuesday 25 June. All welcome!

A busy weekend ahead with the fete and we are looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday 3 July for the event of the summer, the Claires Courts Senior Girls own ‘Festival on the Field’. Staff and pupils alike are gearing up for the summer festival and are busily preparing their acts which promise to be noisy, colourful and I am told a one-of-a-kind experience.