Whilst I was out of school at the Girls’ School Association conference on Monday, the students were treated to another Mr Wespieser assembly.

This time his focus was finding the fun in life. To complement that, Ms O’Clee set us all another challenge; to let people know you appreciate them. The art of practising gratitude is proven to greatly improve mental health and keeps our focus (in general) on how good things are. The students were asked to leave a note for their teachers to let them know they appreciate their work. This was the haul Ms Barnes received but lots of teachers have left work with a skip in their step after receiving a little note that took no more than 10 seconds to write and we hope that by noticing the good and sending out gratitude, our students will continue to be a little more insulated from future struggles.

Our school always punches well above its weight and, following a very successful regional competition, both Arabella (Year 7 shot; 8m10) and Bethany (Relay) came home from the Nationals in Manchester with a gold medal. Other stand out performances were Bethany 2nd in the 80m Hurdles (and 4th in the 300m), Lara came 2nd in High Jump, adding another 10cm to her PB and a further silver in relay. Zara picked up two bronze medals in the hurdles and relay, Mia achieved a bronze in the 300m and Ellie was delighted with her 4th in the javelin; improving significantly on her PB. We are very proud of all our athletes who gave their all. 

 Mr Gravett and I have been deep in the first round of Head Girl interviews this week and every single one of the 12 applicants were appointable; they all have so much to offer and spoke so well in the panel interview. I would like to congratulate all applicants for putting themselves forward; we now have 4 short-listed candidates who will take part in the hustings in assembly on Monday. The final few students who had not yet been trained on the cadet rifle were successful on Wednesday, so congratulations to them!

 Finally, I would like to thank everybody who came along to the Diamond Jubilee Ball on Saturday. I enjoyed seeing you all out of the context of school. We must congratulate our PTA; Anna, Tina and Philipe put so much effort into ensuring this event was fantastic. 

Have a great weekend,

Mr Richards