This week has seen a re-engagement with many special events that we have missed during the last 12 months: Year 7 Camp, Raymond House Cross Country, Blinkbonnie House Parent Maths session and the staging of the Senior School Production – 42nd Street. These kinds of occasions are fundamental in strengthening our school culture and building connections across the whole school community: they create a space for girls or parents to step outside of routine and think about things differently. At the Maths information session, parents were able to step back and connect their own experiences of Maths learning to those of their daughters, opening opportunities for dialogue and discussion between girls and parents and parents and teachers. At camp and cross country, staff engaged with girls outside the classroom context and were able to support them to embrace new challenges and push themselves outside their comfort zones. They encouraged each other, took personal risks within a safe environment and came to see themselves and their peers in a different light.

As a result of COVID these types of experiences have been few and far between and we have been the poorer for it! They nourish the girls, and us, in ways that the regular routine of school cannot. What a joy it has been this week to be able to immerse ourselves in these fantastic parts of our school program. I hope that you, or your daughter, have had a chance to connect with at least one of them!

Ms Elisabeth Rhodes
Principal