As I was thinking about what to say in their final assembly tomorrow, I thought that the last full academic year these students completed was when they were in Year 9. We have been through a lot of ups and downs but they have all said that they are ready for the next chapter of their education and I would agree. Well done Year 11. Just as I finished typing that (and I promise this is true), they came in with a big smile holding this… it will in no way affect their History grades but it did put a huge smile on my face.

Mrs O’Clee ran assembly this week and her theme was to ‘just do it’ - take a risk and give it a go. She told us stories of her time refereeing high level rugby fixtures and how she gave it a go, didn’t enjoy it but gained a lot from the process. She also told us how she ended up in goal for the GB women’s Ice Hockey team. She gave the sport a go at university, loved it and went all the way. It was an excellent assembly on the theme of grasping any and every opportunity that comes along.

I thought I would write something about the importance of rest. Rest is absolutely essential for all of us. I recently read a story about a keen runner who went to train with the elite Kenyan athletes in their altitude training camp. What struck him was that there was a lot of time when the athletes were not doing much, they trained hard when they needed to but rest was such an important part of their training process. There is an important lesson here for us, we must grasp opportunities but we must also balance this with enough down time and rest to remain sharp. I am off to the Isle of Wight for the second half of the week. I’ll be at my beach hut and may go for a jaunt on the paddleboard. Please make the most of your break and see you all next term.