Many of our students have been away on their Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award camp this week. Such activities are brilliant team-building exercises and I am very proud of everyone who has embraced those outdoor challenges. Thank you to Miss Ofori for arranging and leading the camp for us. Few experiences can provide so many opportunities to develop skills and attributes we need for life – resilience, self-reliance, problem-solving, teamwork, courage, resourcefulness, grit – the list goes on. Camps like these live in the memory too. 

Such attributes form part of an emerging ‘toolkit’ which our students are busy assembling during their years with us. Taking a few steps back so that we can view the ‘whole child’ is important to us. As you will see from this week’s highlights film (thank you once again, Nalini!), we are striving to provide our students with as many different experiences as we can, precisely so they may keep adding tools to their toolkits for life. Life is long but childhood is short and we have a moral obligation to fill it with adventurous activities that are fun, whilst at the same time developing life skills for the outstanding futures that await them. Watch the highlights film and you will see what I mean. 

Have a great week together and I look forward to welcoming everyone back after the half-term break, for what is surely the best time in the school year. 

Yours,