You are all at the very beginning of a tremendous five-year adventure that will see you develop from eager primary school children who have just finished working for their SATS exams into mature young adults bursting with enthusiasm and armed with the knowledge to confront the world and the challenges that it has to offer.

These first few months are all about you settling in to school life and I hope by now that you have made lots of new friends and are getting to know all of your new subject teachers, not to mention finding your way around our fantastic school building. In the first few weeks of September, we will be setting off to Kingswood, and this will give you a huge opportunity to try new things, push yourself further than you ever thought you could and most importantly meet new people.

I spoke in my first assembly about battling through adversity and stepping up to the challenges that may face you in your first year at secondary school. Everyone of you will at some point this year find yourself in some sort of difficulty, whether it is completing your maths homework or climbing the high ropes at Kingswood; the key to success is to push through these challenges and don’t let short-term problems effect your long term goals.

I want to leave you with something to think about as you start your adventure, and I hope that it will guide you as it has guided me.

“Everybody has a dream, and every dream is a possibility. Work hard, try hard and you never know, that dream may become a reality.”

– Mr M Willoughby