The last e-Lily letter was written in the midst of our ISI inspection. Thank you to all who completed the questionnaire as part of that process. Whilst I cannot share our results until the report is published towards the end of next month, I can assure you that the inspection team were highly impressed with all that Calne has to offer and in particular, the ambition and kindness of our pupils.

I have so enjoyed hearing about the ski trip and History of Art trip which took place last week. Both sounded educationally enriching, with great fun had by all. Thank you for supporting your daughters to take part in school trips.

We are starting to see signs of spring at school with bulbs coming into flower, green shoots around the campus, as well as lighter evenings. Along with Felicity and Maddy in the UVI, I peered skyward just after sunset on Tuesday evening to catch the ‘planetary parade’ when all seven planets were visible – what a phenomenon to see.

This year’s chosen school charity is the Stroke Association. To kick start the annual Charity week proceedings, we warmly welcomed Danny from the Stroke Association who spoke in Chapel on Monday morning.  He shared his personal experience of recovering from two strokes and taught us potential stroke symptoms. I am delighted that Danny is returning to school on Friday to enjoy the Open Mic Night with us.

I have been really impressed with the whole community’s commitment and enthusiasm for this year’s charity week. The 24-hour Danceathon was possibly my favourite event so far, because so many girls were involved.  I hit the dance floor and had a little boogie to Bruno Mars but did watch the reeling from the sidelines! My enormous thanks to all involved in the organising and directing of events this week. There has been a palpable buzz around school with so many of us enjoying the fun activities whilst raising funds and awareness for such a worthy cause.

Well done to all five LVI girls who took part in this year’s Head Girl hustings in Chapel on Tuesday. Each of them presented with eloquence, humility and confidence and I look forward to sharing the details of next year’s pupil leadership team with you later this term.

Best wishes,

Anne Wakefield