Last night was our School Open Evening and it was wonderful to welcome so many families to Wallingford School and for them to have a taste of what we are about as a school community. From the Bigg Band to flaming science experiments to the climbing wall and balls flying in PE, spectacular art and photography, baking and filing in DT and a whole lot more it is always a vibrant and exciting evening and last night was no exception.

I spoke last night to prospective families about our school values based around being “Able and Qualified” and about how our school is a community within a community of Wallingford and its surrounding villages; about how our school is high-achieving, proudly comprehensive and inclusive and that it is the school which serves the town and the villages and that we work very hard to ensure that this is the case.

As I wrote to families on Monday, our school community has been tested this week with the passing of one of our Year 10 students. He was much-loved and valued and had dealt so very bravely with illness over a long period of time. He is missed and for our school, and particularly those young people and staff who knew him well, it has been a hard week. What we have done is stick together, support each other, not be afraid to show our emotions or say how we feel and cherish happy memories of a great young person who we miss and who we will never forget. In time we will have a significant event to celebrate his life and for the next few weeks we will stick together as a school community and know that this togetherness supports us all through challenging and difficult times.