Poor old Maidenhead sailing lake fills from the underground water table rather than the river, so until such time as we remove all the thousands of houses and industries in the Thames that rely upon extracting from the water table, it will stay vulnerable to such extraction and, given the lower depths that result, will be stricken by the summer weed that for other reasons kills sailing. 

Full assemblies this week have focussed on the incredible skills which many of our adult volunteers develop to assist society in becoming the safe state it seeks to be. An example of this is the heroism of the Australian, and now Canadian, firefighters to douse the forest fires which have been raging since September, and which look set to continue until the arrival of autumn rains in April. 

On Friday, Year 11 received their bespoke assembly on the opportunities they have to build their volunteering skills through work experience, the National Citizenship Service and our own school ‘sponsored’ activities. The presentation and link to our information letter can be found here.  

Thanks to all of our Year 8 parents who attended in droves our parents evening on Thursday evening. Head of Year, Mr Hammerton, extends his apologies for being absent through illness; our presentation for the evening can be found here, with key dates for Year 8 this term.   

The school nurses are noting absence levels and report that a few winter sickness bugs are emerging, but to set minds straight, nothing we would not expect at this time of year.