Head’s End of Term Blog

As I sat at my desk this week writing the end of term letter, I was reminded that this will also be my last blog of 2020 – a year which presented us all with the most unexpected challenges. Reflecting on this term, I was struck by the boy’s resilience, patience, kindness and impressed by their continuing hard work. They have maintained the customary Wetherby good humour in spite of bubbles and constraints in how we could all move around the School. I am also very proud of our wonderful teaching staff who have risen to the challenges they’ve faced while continuing to offer great clubs and activities for the boys.

There was much to enjoy at the end of term with the Sixth Form play, a topical monologue by David Hare about his own experience of contracting COVID-19,  the Christmas Concert, an excellent showcase of the music at the School (both are still available on YouTube) and finally the traditional Staff Panto, with the lucky Year 7 boys enjoying the live performance.

Both the boys and the PTA have been actively fundraising over the last few weeks and I greatly enjoyed the raffle draw live on Instagram yesterday afternoon.  In total the raffle raised an impressive £5,760, which when combined with the sale of wreaths and the pledged donations rises to £6,720.  When this is put alongside the very generous donations made directly to the Gold Standard Charitable Trust, the parents have raised in the region of £16,000 for the bursary fund. Thank you so much to those people that donated items for the raffle, bought tokens or made donations to the bursary fund.

The boys have also been fundraising by selling and wearing Christmas jumpers and this morning, the Christmas shoeboxes were delivered to West London Mission.  The taxi was so full it took Mr Underwood and his helpers 25 minutes to unload.  Again, thank you to all of you who have supported this very worthwhile cause.

After assembly today, I was pleased to meet a number of boys from various year groups who have all achieved 25 Gold Notes or more over the course of this term.  This is a real achievement as Gold Notes are often hard won, and I enjoyed talking to them about their work this term and the areas in which they had been awarded these notes. Another great example of the Wetherby spirit!

I hope that you all enjoy a restful Christmas break and wish you all the best for 2021.