As we come to the end of another busy year, it is a time to reflect on the successes of the school.

The new year started with a celebration of our students’ theatrical talent with a production of Cabaret.

Over the year we were honoured to welcome a number of guest speakers including a Holocaust survivor for the International Holocaust Memorial Day.

Our students showed maturity and skill in the Sixth Form Business Challenge and their sense of adventure on the World Challenge trips to India, as well as a huge variety of other trips such as the annual ski trip to Austria, history trips to Berlin and the First World War battlefields, geography trips to the Isle of Wight and Isle of Arran, a languages trip to Salamanca in Spain and various bronze, silver and gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions.

We had a visit from Ofsted in March where we were again graded as ‘Good’. The GCSE and A Level results again improved with 63 per cent A*-C including English/maths and 99 per cent pass rate for A-level. We have a British Champion in figure skating and a future BMX Olympian in training.

From welcoming the new Year 7 students in September to the last notes of the carol concert on December 14, staff have been working hard to ensure that each student is given every opportunity to succeed.

I wish to pay tribute to all the staff involved and to thank parents and carers for their invaluable support in the task of developing young men and women of whom we may all be proud.

I would like to wish everyone a happy Christmas and peaceful New Year.