Performing arts are an integral part of our school. It has been great this week to see new stage lights installed which have been funded by a grant from South Oxfordshire District Council – and thank you to them for their support. I wrote a few weeks ago about our collective affection for the “well” of the Hall and all it offers as a performance space. There are lots of rehearsals and practices taking place each evening after school currently for the Christmas Concert on Tuesday 9th December and for our whole school production of Legally Blonde which takes place in January and, despite its age, our Hall rocks, echoes and shines with the sounds of our students’ brilliant performances. It might be choirs, solos, quartets, huge group numbers or the Bigg Band itself – they are all wonderful to hear as they practice for the ultimate shows and it is fantastic that external bodies are willing to provide the support for our young people to thrive. We very much appreciate it.
It has been a week of House assemblies with updates on the run-up to the end of term and the latest standings. House matches in particular are coming up soon and everything is to play for. The collective enthusiasm and spirit of the House system are always a pleasure to see and we look forward to the “big reveal” of the standings in the final assembly of term.
Looking forwards, we are almost in December and planning is afoot for Christmas activities with communication around Christmas Dinner and various year group trips and visits going home. A reminder that we are collecting donations for the Wallingford Emergency Foodbank and I am also delighted to confirm that we are collecting donations again this year to support local charity Sleigh2Give – we have significantly supported both organisations in recent years and it is great to do so again. Information about donations will be shared through our social media channels and in assemblies with students.