After a long, hot summer it has been a slightly soggy return to school this week but it’s great to be back.

We return after celebrating really excellent examination results in August for both our Year 13 and Year 11 cohorts. The details of the results – and a lot of photos! - are on the school website so I won’t repeat them here but we could not be more proud of how they did and it was the product of hard work and commitment from our young people and outstanding teaching and learning and support from our staff. Very well done to all and we wish everyone well for their futures whether at university, college, other forms of training or in our Sixth Form.

On Wednesday it was a pleasure to welcome our new Year 7 and Year 12 cohorts before the rest of the school returned. Year 7 were a delight and have made a wonderful impression during their first few days with us. Equally, Year 12 have made an impressive start and it has been lovely to welcome back students who have been at the school previously and also to welcome so many young people who have joined us from other schools. Wallingford School Sixth Form now totals well over 300 students and that is a reflection of the quality of our provision over a long period of time.

Finally, it has been great to see everyone back this week and I cannot emphasise enough the importance of regular attendance in school. It is obvious but for a myriad of reasons it matters so much. We will be sending out our standard letter to families about not taking holidays in term time next week and please do ensure that these are avoided. Equally, if there are challenges please do let us know as we are here to support, but young people need to be in school.