There is a lot to be proud of in school this week. 

We were very proud on Monday of our teams of Year 9 students who participated in the Merchant Taylors’ Design Competition at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London and finished both as winners and runners-up from the field of teams – quite an achievement and well done to all!  

We were also very impressed by the students who took part in a creative writing workshop at the Wallingford Literary Festival on Saturday – it was a great opportunity and one they grasped with both hands.  

And we have been very proud indeed of all of our students who were involved at last Thursday’s Open Evening; I have had numerous glowing messages from prospective families letting me know how polite, welcoming and proud of our school every student encountered was, not least our brilliant Year 7s – we are very proud of them all. 

The school is busy. It’s been great this week to see the rehearsals for the school production get into gear after school, to hear the sheer amount of Music that we have in school from the Bigg Band, to the Key Stage 3 Choir and a lot more and also to see fixtures in (Touch) Rugby and Football as well as practices taking place. Equally, lunchtime clubs and activities are now well in place with a broad range of options on offer and lots of students involved.  

All these things – being involved and part of something, developing as a person and becoming confident and responsible – reflect the “Able” part of “Able and Qualified” which I talked about at Open Evening. It is important, intrinsic to our school ethos and helps us to develop the young people of whom we can be very proud.