Senior Reflections Week 23 March 2025
Dear parents,
This week I have been out of school on inspection, joining an Independent Schools Inspectorate team in Romania where we have visited a British international school. Visiting other schools is such a great way of enriching one’s own experience; I never fail to return from such a visit without lots of great ideas inspired by the high quality provision, innovative ideas and excellent learning and teaching that I have seen. On this occasion the highlight has to be a zipwire, connecting two of the school buildings – something which I imagine is pretty unique! I was tempted to have a go, but sadly was not suitably dressed, though one of the inspection team did take a turn, and had a fantastic time zipping through the air at great speed!
Whilst I have been away it has been a busy week: we welcomed the Onatti Theatre Company to school on Monday to perform a play in Spanish for the Lower Fifth and Middle Fifth. It was a pleasure to welcome 40 pupils from Ted Wragg Trust schools to come and enjoy the play too, and I know that they had a fantastic experience here.
Sixth form events
The Upper Sixth have been presenting their extended project qualification (EPQ) projects this week. This is an excellent qualification for which pupils must complete a substantial piece of original research on a topic of their choice. It is great preparation for university – since it is akin to a university dissertation. I am sorry I have not been able to enjoy the projects and congratulate all those pupils who have completed these. Many thanks also to Mr Luigi Chu and the supervising team who have guided pupils so expertly through the process. The Lower Sixth enjoyed the chance to visit the UCAS Discovery Fair at West Point on Tuesday and I hope that it started them thinking about what they might plan to do when they have completed their sixth form studies. The options are many – not just university, but of course also degree apprenticeships, or indeed, the world of work. It is never too soon to start thinking about the options and I hope that Tuesday was a good catalyst for this. We also had the Upper Sixth parents’ evening this week and I hope that it was both enjoyable and constructive as you met with teachers to discuss your daughter’s and son’s attainment and progress and formed targets for their next steps.
Enrichment activities
This week there has been a whole host of enrichment activities – in the arts, open mic night, a visit to Bristol to watch Romeo and Juliet, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra concert at the University of Exeter and also the visit of author Fleur Hitchcock, to the library and tonight, the second incarnation of the library murder mystery event for the Third Form. And in sport, we have had U18 and U16 rugby sevens, U11 football matches, netball matches for girls from the U9s right up to the Upper Sixth, plus hockey sevens and elevens, cross country and the U14 boys playing in the Devon county cup final for rugby today. In addition, we have a full fixture card for sports matches on Saturday. In amongst the arts and sport, there has also been an Upper Sixth cyber security competition, Upper Sixth parents’ evening, a conference for school librarians and the Crossing Club had a mock trial. It is always wonderful to see your children enthusiastically taking up all the opportunities on offer – and long may this continue.
Prefect appointments
Finally, tomorrow we are interviewing members of the Lower Sixth for prefect appointments. I wish them all the very best and look forward to my conversations with them.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend.
