It has been a Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) fortnight in every sense! It has been great to see the girls benefitting from the power of the network at both ends of the educational journey. In Juniors, Year 6 girls enjoyed a truly inspiring day of Maths at Oxford University whereas in Seniors, the Head Girl Team spent a challenging and exciting weekend building their leadership skills at the Royal School of Bath for the GDST Young Leaders' Conference. Not only were they able to hear from inspirational speakers like the England Gold-medal winning Hockey team captain, Kate Richardson-Walsh, but they worked closely in teams with girls from 26 other schools on a fundraising campaign. Our Hockey, Netball and Junior Swimming teams also participated in the Trust-wide rally at Northampton High this week, where a great day of sport was enjoyed by all.

We are so lucky that the girls get the benefit of a close community in school but a broader network of the GDST, enabling us to provide opportunities that any stand-alone school would struggle to provide. There are plenty more events and opportunities to follow this year so watch this space!

Sport has got off to an excellent start this season, with plenty of tournament and fixture play. Our teachers have expanded the programme this year to include some Saturday fixtures and pre-season, so we hope this will provide families with more opportunities to spectate and support. Our Sixth Form have also been enjoying their new curriculum including Dance and Rowing at the Royal Docks. It was a bit windy on Monday, but great to see them out on the water!

The big event this week has been the major re-development milestone: our ‘Topping Out’ ceremony. Chair of the GDST, Juliet Humphries, helped us to mark a key point in the project and celebrate all that has been achieved so far. It was a great event and full of optimism for the next year. Just in time, we were able to reopen the refurbished staircase in Westcombe House enabling the Sixth Form to return to their lovely home. We are all amazed at the space that has been created and are looking forward to the finishing touches over half term.