21 September 2018

It has been wonderful to see pupils settling in to the rhythm of the school term.

The sense of infectious enthusiasm has continued throughout the school and it has been great to see the first sports matches of the year taking place. Congratulations to our Senior XI first team who beat Wallingford School at Hockey and our Year 5A and B teams who triumphed against The Abbey this week.

I have particularly enjoyed spending time in Nursery where it was a delight to see how quickly our youngest pupils are settling into school life. Their sense of curiosity about the world around them is impressive, as are the strong friendships that are already forming. We look forward to welcoming Nursery parents and children to our main school site next Wednesday for our Reception taster morning, our first transition event of the new school year.

Elsewhere in school, I enjoyed meeting with our Year 11 pupils, parents and Form Tutors on Tuesday evening as we reviewed their targets and planned for the year ahead. The sense of determination and focus was palpable, but I've been equally impressed by their strong friendships, their sense of fun and enjoyment for school life and their continued commitment to their extra-curricular activities. Our Year 11s have made a great start to the year and are proving fantastic role models for the younger years. I've really enjoyed seeing them settle into their new leadership roles as House Captains, Prefects, Sports Captains and Subject Captains.

My thanks to all of the Junior School parents who joined us for our Welcome to Junior School Evening last night. It was good to be able to talk to so many of you about the year ahead and share information on some of the opportunities that we will be offering pupils in school. I'm particularly excited about our forthcoming Wings and Wheels Discovery Week and I look forward to telling you more about this whole school STEM-based week. We also reflected on the importance and value of fostering a love of reading in our pupils. This term, it has been fantastic to see the enthusiastic response of our pupils across the school to our renewed focus on the power of reading to inspire, delight, enthuse and educate us all. It is wonderful to hear that family reading is clearly so embedded across our school community.

I wish you all an enjoyable weekend and wish the best of luck to those Year 8 and 9 pupils who are heading off to Condover Hall near Shrewsbury to take part in the Girls’ School Association Netball tournament.