It was a pleasure to be part of the Key Stage 4 Options Evening for our Year 9 students on Wednesday as they considered their futures. As always, it was an evening full of aspiration and ambition while also bearing in mind that breadth, depth and keeping options open are important at this stage.

We started the week reflecting on the sheer brilliance of our school production of The Addams Family – what a show it was and a final very well done to everyone involved and a thankyou to everyone who attended. In sport we have had fixtures and tournaments across the week – including again hosting our local Primary Schools on Tuesday afternoon – and the lighter evenings promise even more after the half-term break. House competitions have seen the epic culmination of the House Remote Control Car Competition, the unveiling of the new House boards in the Hall and today’s annual Pancake Day race. In trips and visits, the French Exchange returned having had a brilliant week, on Tuesday students visited Magdalen College, Oxford for a German study day, Wednesday saw an outing to Warhammer World and today our Sixth Formers leave for their visit to Barcelona. Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Team have also marked Children’s Mental Health Week with an excellent series of assemblies.

As we break for a week, a final “well done” to our Year 11 Food Technology students who have been undertaking the practical element of the exam this week – they have done brilliantly and their efforts would not look out of place in a professional kitchen. We are very proud of them.