People often say that a School calendar is the best marketing tool one can have, and my goodness that is true at the moment. There is so much going on and it is so pleasing to be able to offer so many different opportunities to the students and others. All the evenings this week have been full of events with a very productive Education meeting with Governors, a recruitment event at a local Prep School, a buzzing Parents’ Evening, a delightful informal concert and tonight I look forward to the Prep School Quiz Night!

Often having a new and different voice can be helpful for us all, especially when facing tricky challenging situations and topics, and we were delighted to welcome the inspirational Dick Moore here to speak with a number of Junior students yesterday, whilst next Thursday we have representatives from two groups – ‘Girls on Board’ and the ‘Human Dignity Trust’ presenting to many of our community. Do please continue the conversations at home.

In the Junior and Headmaster’s Assemblies today, I talked about how a young boy in a prospective family meeting with me recently asked me two rather direct questions: ‘ What is the best bit of your job?’ and ‘What is the toughest?’ I explained how working in a beautiful environment with super colleagues is great but the best part is seeing students achieve great things and the joy that can bring. Sometimes that might be on a larger scale in a concert, on a stage, on the sports pitch or it might be lower key when someone manages to make great progress with their learning after putting in notable effort.

The toughest (and very important) part is having to pick up the pieces when things have caused upset, especially when people might have been unkind or not thought through the consequences of their actions. This is rare at a school such as this but on occasion it does happen. Of course, young people make mistakes at times, and we want to support them and guide them in the right direction but, as I pointed out today to the students, it is so important that they focus on making positive contributions to the community, to ensuring that we all feel happy, secure and valued so that we can maintain the best parts of School life.

The First Form parents had a very productive parents’ evening on Wednesday night and it was a pleasure to have positive feedback from many of them. Next week there is a Parents’ Evening for the Upper Sixth on Wednesday and I know a number of Fourth and Fifth Form parents are coming in on Saturday morning for a session on ‘Study Skills’ tomorrow.

Next week we have a focus on Wellbeing for all our students, staff and parents with ‘Wellbeing Week’. Please do take a look at the various activities which Mrs Trachonitis and other colleagues have planned. I hope it will be beneficial for all of us and will help us get through another busy week before a well-earned Half Term.