Head’s blog – October half term 2024

Friday 18 October 2024 | By Samantha Hockney

I hope you are looking forward to an enjoyable half term.

Trips and visits

There have been some fantastic announcements over the last couple of weeks for our students. The Senior School 2025 Christmas Ski Trip to Austria and the Year 7 summer residential trip to Dukeshouse Wood have both been launched and, alongside the countdown to our Creative Arts trip to New York City in December, the atmosphere in school is buzzing with excitement. A reminder to parents that these trips are by no means compulsory; simply an opportunity for students to travel far and wide with their friends and classmates and experience some incredible learning and co-curricular opportunities at the same time. We appreciate lots of opportunities of this nature are put your way during each term; a reminder that a table of upcoming trips and visits for both this and next academic year is available on the school website. I hope this reassures parents and enables you to plan ahead accordingly.

Sporting fixtures

Elsewhere, the PE department has been ever so busy with daily fixtures in netball, hockey and rugby. I am extremely proud hearing reports of not only fantastic skills and scores, but more importantly the outstanding levels of teamwork and sportsmanship on display in each and every game. I hope you enjoy reading this fortnight’s match reports, too.

New netball and tennis facility

It goes without saying that with such a busy fixture schedule, our new netball and tennis courts have been put to good use. The acrylic slip resistant surface has been added in recent weeks to finish off our summer refurbishment, ensuring the courts meet both Lawn Tennis Association and England Netball requirements. We are very excited for our students to enjoy this new facility and particularly in the summer months.

Sixth Form Open Evening

A note for Year 11 parents that our Sixth Form Open Evening will take place on Wednesday 13 November and offers a revised approach to enable you to get a sample of Sixth Form teaching – a chance to not only inform, but to inspire our pupils as they consider their next step. Please save the date.

Finally, I would like to give a reminder of our Family Fireworks Display taking place just after the half term break on Tuesday 5 November. From our current sales, we expect record-breaking numbers, so please ensure to purchase tickets in advance – it’s unlikely there will be any for sale on the door.

Read our latest newsletter here.

Kirsty Mackenzie, Head