Over the course of the first half of term, it has been super to see the children engaged in a wide variety of enrichment events, despite the fact life continues to be restricted. The Year 3 and 4 informal concert, filmed last Friday, was such a joy! For most of the children, it was their first-ever musical performance, and they did brilliantly and appeared to enjoy not just their own performance but those of their friends, too. Last Friday, it was the turn of our Year 6 soloists and I so enjoyed their last ever informal concert at SVPS. 

We do, however, have the Summer Concert to look forward to in June and I know much work is going on in preparation for our first ‘live’ concert in well over a year – how exciting! I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Lordon and her excellent team of visiting Music teachers for all they have done to maintain the musical life at the School during such difficult times. Covid has had a huge impact on music-making and yet they have managed to ensure our children have continued to develop this important aspect of their lives.

Giving the children the opportunity to speak with confidence in public is a key part of our leadership journey at SVPS. So, it is also great to have children from Year 2 to 5 children taking LAMDA exams this term and to see the whole School getting involved in our annual Poetry Competition, with the final filmed last Thursday. Both the exams and competition have required a great deal of organisation and I am very grateful to Mrs Dallamore for all her hard work. It was also super to welcome our poetry judges Mr Lee-Brown (Head of English) and Mr Fewson (Head of Drama) from the Senior School – none of us envied their task given the polished and confident performances of all the finalists.

We have been so pleased to be able to welcome spectators to matches again in recent weeks and despite the fact the weather has not been in keeping with the Cricket season, a busy match schedule has been greatly enjoyed by pupils, coaches and spectators alike. Behind the scenes, Mr Davey and Mrs Jacobs have been ensuring our sport has been Covid-safe and we are all delighting in seeing the Cricket bug take off throughout the School, with the nets in constant use during break times and boys and girls enjoying playing together.

Now we are in half term, I can’t help wondering where the last six weeks have gone! We have many more super occasions to look forward to during the last five weeks of the School year but, of course, the format of some of these will be dependent on the Government’s roadmap continuing to go to plan with social distancing ending on 21st June. We will, of course, keep you informed as the term develops.

I wish everyone a restful break so that batteries can re-charged ready for the final furlong!

Miss Corkran, Head