Three days until Spring officially begins, apparently… Although while various pretty flowers have started to appear in recent days, that we have been having to grit paths and the fact that I could not see the Weald at all outside my study window this morning implies it might be a bit further off than we had hoped.

Last weekend was great fun with the hugely popular and fun SVS Foundation Quiz on Friday night (thank you so much to former parent David Gilman for masterminding it and well done to the winners – ‘Have you turned it off and on again… again!’ – yes, it was made up of members of our IT team!), some solid fixtures on Saturday and then a delightful and moving Confirmation Service on Sunday, beautifully led by Bishop Rose of Dover.

This week has flown by and I know a number of you enjoyed the Informal Concert, the Upper Sixth Drama performance and there was a lovely atmosphere at the Second Form Parents’ Evening.

Next week, on Wednesday we will have our CCF Biennial inspection, where we will welcome Commander Barker RN, Capt Tamang, and Governor Jane Davies to the School to check on all the troops and join us for the NCO Leavers’ dinner. Such events are such a pleasure to attend, and for many students and colleagues I know it is a highlight of the year. We also welcomed the Year 5 students from the Prep School here for a CCF taster afternoon today; judging by the photos I am sure they all had fun, although we send them home muddier than when they arrived!

I look forward to welcoming all the Under 16 Girls’ Hockey team to a little celebration event on Thursday to congratulate them on their status as national champions. The Under 18 Boys are doing their best to follow in their footsteps having beaten local rivals Tonbridge in their National Quarter Final yesterday. Good luck to the Under 18 and Under 14 Rugby teams as they face the challenge of the Rosslyn Park tournament at the start of next week – I trust they have enough in the tank at the end of a long term!

On the last day of term we will have our Reflective Passiontide service led by our Chaplain Mr Davies in the morning, and we will then join again just before lunchtime for the end of term assembly where we will celebrate the term and I will give the long awaited announcement about next year’s Prefects and next term’s Heads of School.

One very full week to go, everyone, until a well earned break. Let’s all make the most of it.