Congratulations! We have made it to the end of a brilliant term, and in fine form too! It has been a celebratory, creative and adventurous final two weeks, with a wealth of exciting events to enjoy. The focus in Juniors has been upon bidding our Year 6 girls good luck for their transition to Senior School and celebrating their many achievements. The Year 5 and 6 girls really excelled in the production: Mystery at Magpie Manor. It was a fabulous visual feast and had great comic moments. Prize-giving for Year 6 this week saw us celebrate the girls’ many achievements and it was a real treat to host Alumna Hannah L-S to award prizes and share her thoughts on courage with the girls.

Wednesday’s whole school concert at St Margaret’s Church in Lee, was also a real treat and a fitting end to a musically spectacular year. I am so grateful to all our accompanists, music peris and Mrs Gunton, Mrs Coles and Miss Smith for all their inspiration and efforts.

It was also a real pleasure to host the prize-giving for Year 7 and 8 this week. Both Year groups have impressed us with their energy and engagement in school and it was a real celebration of their many achievements so far. Again, it was a real pleasure to welcome back Dr Shade Henry (a 2008 graduate) to share her experience training in Medicine with the girls. We feel very privileged to have such a close alumnae network; I think it is a really unique feature of the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST). Seven of our recent leavers also generously gave their time to contribute to our ‘Bright Horizons’ Higher Education event for Year 10, alongside speakers from KCL, Cambridge and Southampton. The personalised support and advice available to the girls really is second-to-none and I am extremely proud of the extra mile we go to link girls up with mentors and former students. 

Finally, we bid ‘bon voyage’ to two groups of travellers this week. A small Year 9 group joined 500 of their GDST sisters at the annual Multitude Festival at Ipswich High. A unique opportunity to make new friends across the Trust, as well as participate in workshops, listen to live music and immerse in the full festival experience; this has been a really great event. An intrepid band of senior students, led by Mrs O'Hanlon and Miss Smith also flew out to Tanzania on Thursday. They are working with a great organisation ‘Inspire Worldwide’ to work on a women focussed/renovation project in Babati, as well as taking part in workshops with a partner girls group, and attempting to learn some Swahili. There is also going to be a chance to participate in a safari and make lots of local community visits. The programme looks fantastic and the girls have worked very hard to raise funds; we cannot wait to hear all about it.

I wish you and your daughters a restful and enjoyable summer holiday. Thank you so much for all of your support of the school and the staff this year and we look forward to seeing you again in September.