In many of these messages over many months I have been writing about our whole school production, right from when I first saw the size of the cast last autumn to my first experiences of the show last week. This will be the final time that I do so and it is with a feeling of joy and pride at such a wonderful show. It was fun and it was pink; it had songs, dancing and a lot of wit; it was professional and it was polished; it had pathos and it rang true; most of all it was a lot of fun and left audiences to go home with smiles on their faces and with great memories. I have to say thank you to everyone involved whatever their role – and it is too many to list here – for playing their part in something special which we will all remember for a very long time.

This week has seen Year 9 attending Key Stage 4 Options Evening on Wednesday and it is always a really good event as they consider their futures and start to make some choices for the first time in their school careers. As ever, it is about keeping options open and choosing subjects which they enjoy and they feel they can be successful at. There is no pressure or obligation to take any subject and combination of subjects at Wallingford School and that is something which is important to us as a school.

Year 13 students have started their mock exams this week and are working hard. It has been great to see all of the university offers come in over the past few months – with some still to come – and this is an exceptionally focused and hard-working year group who deserve to do well in the summer.

Finally, there is a lot going on currently in our school library with significant investment in new books across a broad and diverse range of genres. Many students are regularly in and out of the library and I would encourage even more to do so as it is a great facility which brings real value to our school.