This has been a week of conferences and consultations, with both Mr Thomas and I attending the first ever joint IAPS and HMC conference to hear about developments in the education sector and to network with colleagues in the independent schools’ sector. An insightful experience, but we both cannot wait to be back in School next week! In School, parent consultations have begun too, of course, with Year 6 being the first to go and others will follow shortly. 

Monday saw the School mark anti-bullying week with an assembly for all children from Years 2 to 6. Having had an unhappy experience myself at the hands of a bully in school many years ago, I shared my perspective on how this had made me feel and how I wish, with hindsight, I might have asked someone for help. That is, of course, the message for our children today; to talk about your feelings and to reach out for help if necessary. The children all discussed who they might ask for help in their year groups, and parents might like to bring this topic up with their children to see who they identified – a mixture of friends, family and even pets (although we did encourage these children to identify some humans too!) from the examples given in the assembly. 

On an entirely different note, I am sure all parents would like to join us in thanking the SVPSPA for the Macmillan Cancer Support cake sale and Football match last Friday. Honours were even in the Football (curtailed early before some children froze!) and the cake sale not only saw a tremendous buzz in the Dining Hall, but also raised over £1000 and counting – details about how to add any donations are available on the SVPS Twitter feed. 

Best wishes for the weekend. And please do not forget the photos and immunisations (for those who have consented) taking place next week. 

Mr Mark Scholey, Head