Principal's Blog
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28 January 2010
On my way to assembly on Friday I was momentarily startled when a gorilla and a 5’ tall bright yellow banana crossed my path. The absurdness of this encounter amused me no end and set my mood well and truly for the remainder of the day: we were holding the first of our non uniform days this term, the proceeds of which are going to the Sadia Orphanage in Kenya. Two of our pupils, Poppy and Lily, visited the orphanage during the summer holiday and Poppy spoke in assembly to give her firsthand account of the heart wrenching situation in which the children in the orphanage find themselves.
This however was not the only fundraising that day. We have all watched news reports about the earthquake in Haiti with horror and at lunchtime pupils of all ages and some energetic staff took part in a sponsored run around the perimeter of the school grounds to raise money for the Haiti appeal. The generosity of pupils and their families was tremendous and money is still coming in for this event – to date it looks as if over £1000 will have been collected. The runners had fun jogging, running or walking round together and there was a real spirit of camaraderie and feel good factor that I only we could bottle! Even those not taking part but who had come out to support were left feeling exhilarated.
This week we have celebrated a number of pupil achievements. I presented a large number of our musicians with their Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music certificates which ranged from grade 1 right through to grade 8 on a variety of instruments. The results of the annual General Knowledge Paper (GKP) were published and this year the top entries were closer than ever. The Bucknall family secured the top slot improving on the third place they achieved last year. They were followed closely by the Wilson and Jagus families. Successes in the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge at bronze, silver and gold levels were also celebrated.
Sports fixtures have resumed and teams at all levels in netball and football have got the season off to an emphatic start. The Lower 5 boys won the Isle of Man Schools Football Tournament which we hosted at College. One of the senior boys – Cameron Lee – has been selected for the U19 Isle of Man School Football squad and he will be off to California to play with them this summer – a tremendous achievement. And of course there was the girls hockey final left over from last term. Many of you will already know that our 1st XI , aka ‘The Dream Team’, returned victorious having beaten the opposition 6-0. There is an account of the match in the latest news section on the website.
You may be aware that there has been a major change in Ofsted school inspections recently and later today I am off to London to undergo retraining as an independent schools inspector with the Independent Schools Inspectorate. I am looking forward to finding out about the new style inspections in detail as this will help our own preparations for inspection no end! I am a little less enthusiastic about being in central London just a few blocks away from the 75 world leaders also meeting there today discussing Afghanistan!
R Jane Corlett
Acting Principal
