21 January 2022

It was lovely to welcome Year 9 families to Parents evening, albeit virtually, earlier this week. It is always an exciting time of year as Year 9 continue to explore their GCSE options and plan their pathway through Key Stage 4 and onwards into Sixth Form. We are looking forward to continuing these conversations over the weeks ahead. Year 11 have returned to the classroom following their mock examinations with great enthusiasm and focus. We continue to be impressed by both their maturity and determination in tackling their GCSE year but also their continued sense of fun! They are excellent role models for the whole school.

Our Junior pupils have been immersed in a week of musical experiences in the highly capable hands of Miss Culver and Mrs Powell. Nursery have been exploring Percussion, listening to a range of different instruments, guessing 'What's in the bag' and then playing it themselves. Meanwhile, our Reception pupils have been mixing music and movement, executing a spectacularly musical version of the Gruffalo. Letting their imaginations and creativity shine, they imitated the slithering of the snake, the scurrying of the mouse, the swooping of the owl and the stomping of the Gruffalo with a variety of percussion instruments.

Year 2 pupils greatly impressed their surprise guest, Miss Pickering, with their attentive listening skills when she visited to give a special flute recital and talk to them about the flute, as part of their topic on Orchestras. Year 11 and Reception pupils also enjoyed being a special guest audience today for our A level musicians, as part of their final recital piece. What a perfect way to end the week!

Elsewhere in Junior School, Year 6 had a fabulous time working with Year 2 earlier in the week to carry out a study to see what different age makes to your speed and agility. They tested different activities including running, push ups and eating biscuits, and found that in most cases, Year 6s were faster. I’m just glad they didn’t ask me to take part or they may have had a different result on the impact of age on speed and agility!

Have a lovely weekend!

Dr James Raymond

Headmaster