It is a stunning afternoon here at School. The School site looks beautiful today, bathed in sunshine with hardly a cloud in the sky. Sunrises and sunsets have also been breath taking; I wonder how many more days we can have like this as the winter progresses.

The sunshine has been reflected in the atmosphere around the School by students and staff, who have had a very busy, but joyful and fulfilling, first full week of the Lent Term. The highlight of the week has been the production of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I have been meeting and greeting parents of the cast and students that have attended on Wednesday and Thursday, and tonight I really look forward to enjoying the performance. I am so pleased that we have managed to host the performances with an audience and the cast have done a super job.

You will see elsewhere in the newsletter an excellent Head of School speech written by Katherine Sawyer (Upper Sixth). It is a highly reflective and optimistic piece (as was Theodore’s last week). I hope, if you read it, you will find it thought-provoking too.

I have had some very encouraging meetings this week with various committees, including Old Suttonians and Governors, sharing reflections on the last term and looking ahead to the future. I am delighted to say, it has been agreed that I will lead a consultation process with different groups within the community, including parents, later this term. This will involve questionnaires, presentations, meetings and focus groups. The intention being to hear views on the past and aspirations moving forward. I look forward to gathering views from many different perspectives and working together to plan a future for our special School community. I will be in contact about this process before Half Term.

You might be aware that this coming Monday is known as ‘Blue Monday’ – deemed to be the saddest day of the year due to Christmas being a while ago, the long dark nights, tricky weather and failed New Year resolutions. I would hope that we will rally against that here and not let such things get us down. There remains a great deal we can all be positive about here and there is, as I have said numerous times before, a great deal of support available for us all if we do find the going tough.

Hopefully, as well as some Hockey and Netball in the afternoon, I will have the chance to see some Third Form parents tomorrow at the ‘Housemasters at Home’ gathering outside the Refectory. It was lovely to see Fifth Form parents who attended last week.

Best wishes

James Thomas, Headmaster