The heat has been turned up again this week but that has not stopped the life of our busy school.

Tuesday saw one of the highlights of the school calendar – Sports Day. It is a brilliant day for many reasons – the sheer joy of the opening parade, the keen sense of competition, the standards achieved – one school record which was broken had stood since 1977 – and the overall sense of fun and being together. What I think I love most about Sports Day is that there really is something for everyone – sprints and relays and the long distance races, mountain biking and frisbee and tug of war, rowing (on the rowing machines!), and pickleball and a whole load of field events and more. Everyone participates, everyone enjoys themselves and everyone contributes to their House. Very well done to all and, as ever, a huge thankyou to our PE team for staging another brilliant day.

This week has been Year 12 Futures Week which started with a fantastic Human Library careers event taking place on Monday morning and I would like to thank all of the volunteers who contributed to the event – many of whom were alumni of the school – and provided such effective insights into careers and the world of work for our students. Futures Week rolled on with a visit to Cardiff University on Wednesday and a series of other events and activities focused on careers and university applications in particular.

It has also been a pleasure this week to welcome our German Exchange partners from Bad Wurzach to the school. It is a relationship we value and which brings much to our school community.

A final “well done” of the week goes to the 13 students in the Sixth Form who have completed Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme Gold Award. It is a significant achievement which is not to be underestimated and we are very proud of them.

Finally, last night saw our rearranged Founder’s Day which is another of the highlights of the school calendar. The heat meant a slightly amended programme but it was important that that we held the evening and as always it was a wonderful celebration of the talent and achievements of our young people and in particular marked the end of Year 11 for a superb cohort of students.