It was a pleasure to welcome Paralympian medal winner Ian Rose to the school this week to deliver a brilliant assembly to our Year 7 students on the subject of resilience, and also to do some work with smaller groups of students in Years 7, 8 and 9. I know from talking with the students how much they took from the talks and as ever Ian was compelling, truthful and got the tone just right with our young people – thank you to him for his time and wisdom.
It has also been wonderful to have students and staff from our French exchange partner school in Grenoble, Lycée les Eaux Claires, staying with families and in school this week. Both our French and German exchanges are excellent opportunities for our students for so many reasons and I would particularly like to thank our modern foreign languages staff for their dedication and commitment to making them happen.
The House fundraising activities have now really kicked in with all sorts of events happening at lunchtimes from bake and lolly sales to wet sponge throwing to shooting hoops and even rumours of a small musical production. It is still early days but I have to say that the events are already gathering real momentum and that the leadership and organisation demonstrated so far are very impressive.
The Summer Recital on Tuesday evening was a triumph with a huge array of young talent performing incredibly impressively. I have also formally thanked our fantastic Bigg Band for all of their efforts over the past few weeks both in school and out-and-about in the local community at events including the town’s D-Day commemorations, the car rally and the Wallingford Carnival with one more big event to come with next week’s Founder’s Day; they are brilliant and their contribution is greatly appreciated.
Finally, as the public exam season finally comes to an end I have to say a huge “well done” to all of our Year 11 and Year 13 students for all of their hard work and commitment. It is now time for a well-deserved break and that begins for Year 13 with this evening’s Leavers’ Ball in Oxford.