Another very busy week has flown past.  On Wednesday we hosted the visit of Rear Admiral David Steel, CBE, Naval Secretary.  Admiral Steel arrived mid-morning and had a tour of both the West and East sides of school, and he was also treated to an excellent concert given by our Choir and Band.  He was most complimentary about both the staff and pupils he met – I do hope that it will be possible to tempt him up to RHS again.

During the weekend we had three keynote events.  On Saturday afternoon we hosted the Anglian Cross-Country Championships.  On the coldest day of winter so far 600 of the top runners from the Eastern counties arrived at RHS to brave the frozen course and -15ºC wind-chill factor.  Our runners did extremely well and I was very pleased to be able to present Harrison Jeffries, Jack Rennison, Claire Cuddihy, Georgie Harmer, Molly Stuart, Sean Cuddihy, Matt Brown, Georgia Tindale, Robert Cowper-Coles and Grace Tindale with Suffolk Cross Country shirts in assembly on Monday morning.

On Saturday evening we held this year's talent show masterminded by Clive Rennison and compèred by Adam McGlynn.  It was a fantastic evening with all sorts of mostly musical acts taking place.  Mattie Todd and Toby Seabright got the evening's entertainment off to an excellent start, but the undoubted star was Rion Shirayanagi (Year 8, Drake) who entertained us all with a masterful performance of a Schubert sonata – he is a real star. 

On Sunday afternoon we held this year's senior Swimming Gala.  It was an excellent event.  Very well done to Collingwood for their overall victory in the boys' event and likewise, well done to Hood for their overall victory in the girls' event.  Commiserations to Howe who pushed Hood all the way.  Plenty of records were set both on the day and prior to the event.  Congratulations in particular to Arabella Murrison, Felicity Slatter and Josh Allday, all of whom were in record-breaking mood.  Many thanks to all concerned, Emma Cook, our swimming coach, Simon Warr (commentator), Jeanne Wilby (scorer), John Snoddon (starter), together with our timekeepers, lifeguards and judges.

Inevitably, much of the week was taken up with last minute preparation for this week's ISI (Boarding) Inspection.  Thank you very much if you took the trouble to complete the parents' questionnaire.  The inspection this week will run from Tuesday to Thursday in snowy, slippery and crystal clear conditions!