We have welcomed four young people from the Ukraine into our Senior Girls family, and it has been a pleasure to see just how well these remarkable people have adjusted to life in the UK. They have embraced every challenge with a smile and a willingness to make things happen. We are so proud of them already!

I would like to say how well our Year 11 students have done this year. They are the first group of students to sit exams in three years and, after doing so well in their Maths papers in January, they are eager and ready for more (they are, I promise!).  Their celebration event is taking place today, so I would like to devote next week’s words to this fantastic group of people. 

The Hockey/Netball tour to Cardiff concluded on Sunday. Great fun was had by all and it was a wonderful opportunity to get away and play some competitive sport for the school in a different country. For many of our students this was their first school trip away from home and we were delighted with the progress the teams made. Trips like this do not happen without an unwavering commitment and enormous amount of work from staff. Ms Guttridge and her team worked so hard to make this trip a success. Ms Guttridge, I know what sacrifices you made to make this happen and we are all very grateful. 

Year 7 were at Junior Boys for our team building day with the CCF on Tuesday. We were lucky to have Al Cole, a former trauma medic in the armed services deliver a fun filled and practical based first aid session. He had brought with him his box of tricks, including the prosthetic arm and fake blood. Mr Larkin had prepared challenging command tasks to gel the teams and a great orienteering route around the thicket to test those map reading skills. The biggest hit were the laser taggers; the capture the flag and attack and defend scenarios were excellent to develop communication, collaboration and skill. I would like to extend our enormous thanks to Mr Larkin who has brought so much to our school in such a short period of time. 

Year 9 went to 3’s workshop in Maidenhead to finish their social media and mental health work. We are all so proud of the progress Year 9 has made, and we were delighted with both attitude and commitment to the tasks at hand. We must thank Mrs Ruddick for her tireless work in providing excellent opportunities for all of our young people. 

Finally, the wonderful inter-house music event took place this week. This gave the Year 11s an opportunity to lead their houses in solos, small group and whole house music numbers. It was such a pleasure to stand in the hall and see happy faces belt out their chosen music with such glee. Obviously Year 9 were fantastic and stole the show with their Queen number but for me it was the joy of the audience singing and clapping along with enormous smiles on their faces. Again, this does not happen from nowhere and takes time, effort and commitment from our student leaders but also from Ms Barrett. Thank you so much Ms Barrett, your enthusiasm and lust for life is infectious and this event was such a success because of you. It was just what we needed after so long being denied the right to singalong with friends. 

Oh, and all of the cadets passed their weapon handling tests on Saturday, our senior cadets defeated Jacob’s ladder at Longridge, we invited Year 5s in for a taster day, we had a whole school photo in the rain and a successful Year 7 parents evening too. 

If you need me this weekend - I’m not available - I’ll be at my beach hut on the island.

Have a good weekend. 

Mr Richards