In the summertime….

Over the weekend, summer invaded Wychwood as Mrs Dean took the boarders to the university parks for summer games and a picnic and Mr Jimenez taught the girls the art of making Spanish tortillas. They did not last long at all, a testament to their yumminess!

This has been a week of self-reflection and review for the Upper Transits and Study I, leading to a better understanding of what the school and, for the Study, what the examination boards are expecting of them. Some girls are quietly proud of themselves after excellent performances and there are also some rather rueful girls who will have re-sits after the summer.  However, as these tend to be cases of pride comes before a fall, I am not too concerned and expect they will be able to exceed expectations at that point.

Tuesday brought Sports Day. That was an excellent afternoon and we really appreciated seeing all the parents who came to support. Several records were broken and it was good to see Chestnut winning the Spirit Award with non-stop cheerleading and magnificent gymnastics although Beech’s human pyramid was also very spirited – if only they had been more consistent across the afternoon. I must pay tribute to the Study I girls who were simply outstanding: they attended, joined in and did everything, gaining valuable points for their houses – we were so impressed. In the end, after several changes of lead during the afternoon, Oak took the overall Sports Day cup.

Sir John’s Lawn has been a hive of entrepreneurship during breaks this week as the Inters embarked on their £5 challenge – each group was issued with £5 and they have had to make it into more. I can stand witness to the excellent of the lemonade I had at break, although I paid for rather than consumed the milk shakes on offer – not because they were not delicious as many others found them so but because I suspect milk shakes and fresh lemonade do not mix! There has been some lovely craft work on offer and I think we will find the Inters have done well when the balance sheets are finalised. Also in the lower school the poetry recital heats have been going on and we are all looking forward to the finals – this is one of the highlights of the year as our girls both speak and write poetry with intelligence, understanding and passion.

Prior to the Study Taster Day next week when we are welcoming some 6 external candidates as well as our own girls, the Upper Transits and the Study had lunch together this week to reflect both on their examinations and on what to expect next week. The Apprenticeship forum aims to explain to the Upper Transits the apprenticeship option for tertiary education so they can make up their minds about what to do after Wychwood with some accurate information to analyse. Today we end the week with a tea for Ms Jones with former pupils and colleagues – she requested we did not make a fuss but we feel 35 years at one school is a magnificent achievement and the least we can do is convert the tea into bubbles.

Public examinations continue with business as usual and we have had a packed few weeks since half term. GCSE examinations have now finished while the A Level examinations have continued and so far they have gone well, with very few papers that have caused concern. The girls have been calm and well prepared and are now ready for a well-deserved break over the summer, while we look forward to August 16th and 23rd, which are the A Level and GCSE results days, respectively. Of course this year we have the new grades at GCSE in a large majority of subjects and for an explanation of them please see Mrs Stacey’s letter that will be coming out at the end of term. Any system where it is possible to get one of 17 different possible results for Double Science is an interesting one!

Mrs Andrea Johnson
Head