The final month of 2017 has arrived and left me wondering where the year has flown!

This week has been very much taken up with exams and of course tomorrow, Saturday, heralds the much-awaited fun-runs as precursors to the Gabon Marathon. The last exams take place in Secondary this afternoon to be followed by marking and then reports while in Primary there will be a series of tests in class to assess the children’s progress in core areas.

Running alongside this have been classroom observations of various members of staff by Heads of Primary and Secondary and by me as a way of keeping tabs on the level of teaching across the school, highlighting best practice and advising on areas for improvement. This has been a most useful exercise and helps to inform future training plans so that we can offer the best possible education to all our students. This is nothing unusual and indeed happens in all good schools on a regular basis.

On a lighter note, rehearsals are in full swing for the end-of-term performances. I believe it is important to give children opportunities to appear on stage, whether individually or as a group, as this encourages their independence and confidence in equal measure.

I am sure they will have a great time, learning important social skills, as they too get caught up in the flurry of end-of-term activity.