Yesterday evening was our annual school Founder’s Day Celebration and Prize Giving, one of the highlights of our school calendar. It was a great event and a memorable celebration of our Year 11 students in particular but also many prizewinners in Year 13 and across other year groups. We enjoyed performances from the Decibels, the Jazz Collective and, of course, the wonderful Bigg Band and welcomed both families and a great many friends of the school. It was an excellent evening and thankyou to all of those families who attended and also to all of the staff in school who were involved in the planning of the event.

As we move into the second half of the term trips, visits and activities have really got started – and some of the real highlights of the year are coming up. Two of our most popular trips are the Year 8 visits to Caen and Aachen and the French students (and staff) are away as I write and having a great time. Year 9 are also very excited about their residential visits next week. We have also been looking forward to Sports Day on Tuesday 9^th July with all Houses having assemblies this week outlining arrangements for the day – as ever, the message is that everyone is involved and has a part to play and that is what make it such a special event.

The House charity fundraising has continued this week with lolly sales, hoop shooting and a penalty shoot-out competition across the Houses with more to follow next week – this is all going very well with excellent student leadership and some real initiative on display.

Finally, well done to our Year 12 students who have been taking their mock exams this week and next – they have done very well indeed on some pretty hot days.