This year has been quite remarkable for our Year 8 boys. Not only have they gelled to be a very effective group of prefects, but they have returned an incredible haul of scholarships, with some gaining places and offers of awards at multiple schools. In purely statistical terms, this has been our best ever year, but what makes the success even sweeter is the memory of when they were in Year 6, where their academic potential was less obvious. They have proved, beyond any doubt, that the journey we take our senior boys on is a rewarding and exciting one; where they blossom at the top of the school and leave us in the best possible shape, ready for the challenge of senior school.
Our Year 6 girls have also made us very proud. They leave to a range of schools, where their evident talents will continue to develop and skills we have nurtured here will give them all opportunities for success.
This year also saw our largest 11+ field and the route to Grammar school is become well-trodden by both Year 6 boys and girls. Again, we have the most children we have ever had passing the 11+, indicative perhaps of the economic climate, but also heartening for the way in which life here can prepare those children for the rigours of such a demanding test.
If that was all these children had achieved we would reflect that this has been a highly successful year, but life here is about so much more than academic success. Our senior sports teams have triumphed and excelled at times. Their football was sublime at times, their rugby combative and competitive and their cricket brutal. However, they have also found time to produce some outstanding Art work, to be part of some wonderful dramatic and musical performances and can truly be said to have shown themselves collectively to be an extraordinary group of talented all-rounders.
Our girls do not pale by comparison in anything other than numeric supremacy. Their sport has been competitive, their creativity inspiring and the way they have conducted themselves exemplary.
So to all our leavers, from all year groups, we say thank you. Thank you for making the lives of all the staff here richer for knowing them and rewarding for sharing in their wonderful successes. We are proud of every one of you and hope that the continuing journey through school will be as happy and successful as it has been here.