Headmaster’s Notes: The beginning is always today.

A very warm welcome back to you all and particularly to the new families and members of staff joining us this year.

It was a joy to see our children return to Prince’s Mead with a spring in their step this week. Over the coming weeks, their challenge will be to sustain that energy, even through the occasional January snow flurry perhaps. (We live in hope!) The children’s positive attitude and application to their studies and activities will play a huge role in ensuring that they make the most of the many opportunities on offer and we look forward to sharing much of that with you in due course.

I am sure many of you started the year with a New Year’s resolution or two; perhaps some of you are still managing to keep them! The start of the year is also a wonderful opportunity for our children to reflect on the things they can do to live a happy and fulfilling life. This week I have invited the children to put kindness to others at the very top of their resolution list this year in order to maintain that standard they set so high last year.

It was a pleasure to welcome James Shone to Friday Prayers this morning. An inspirational speaker who has certainly weathered adversity in his life raised the importance of inflating balloons of self-belief. By knowing our children, their strengths and weaknesses, their likes and dislikes, we can really help them to flourish, as we understand what makes them tick and as we gently direct them along the path to adulthood.

Well done to our Dance Squad who have qualified as regional finalists in the Great Big Dance Off for the second year in a row and also to our Choir who have made it through to the televised semi-finals of the BBC Songs of Praise Choir of the Year. We look forward to welcoming BBC film crews through our doors in the not too distant future.

For now, I wish you all a very happy 2020.

Mr Peter Thacker