Head's blog April 2022

I very much hope you enjoy this rather ‘bumper’ edition of Highlife, which is a marvelous representation of the hustle and bustle of these last few weeks of the spring term.

I hope that all of you who managed to attend the Senior School production of ‘Our Day Out’ enjoyed it. I found myself smiling throughout the entire performance – the students shone brightly! Well done to all of the students involved and many thanks to our Drama department for working so hard over the past term.

Those of you who attended the Spring Concert will have seen how much it meant to students at Juniors and Seniors to be able to perform together once more – and that enthusiasm beamed from their performances, from Year proudly performing on their recorders to our Music Scholar, Tiana, spoiling us with a moving performance on her harp.

Beyond the school walls at Seniors we have seen the GDST network of schools pulling together with our very own students represented at the GDST Crystall Prize Public Speaking Competition hosted by Steatham and Clapham High School which saw our very own Grace in Year 11 among the finalists reading her piece The Pen is Mightier than the Sword. We have also had two of our students place 2^nd and 3^rd in the #700STEMChallenge, a science writing competition hosted by Sydenham High School.

You will also spot an article in this edition showing off the breadth of community engagement work that students are engaged in, and it’s quite vast. From ‘cards for kindness’, to litter picking on our beautiful Heath, recording life stories at Morden College and concerts for local babies and their adults, the list is quite exhaustive and I’m very proud of the staff and students involved.

So I think we reach the end of this term being ready for a break and recharge before we head into a summer term of more usual programming than we have experienced in the past two years. For those of you facing public examinations in the summer term, please do remember to find time to relax and do things that bring you joy amid the inevitable revision-packed days, and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 25^th April.