It was wonderful to return to St Faith’s Church for A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Thursday 8 December, the first time we have been able to host a service there since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

We’re sure all in attendance would agree it was a beautiful occasion; a wonderful chance to bring our school community together. Our Year 7 pupils and Year 13 students shared a poignant moment during the service as the older students passed lit candles to our newest Senior School pupils as a passing of the torch.

We were delighted to be asked to participate in the Lord Mayor’s Show in London which took place on the 12 November 2022.

The new Lord Mayor, Nick Lyons is a member of the Merchant Taylors’ Company so we were asked to design and construct a ‘beacon’ to be carried in the parade by local school children.

Students and staff in the D&T department rose to the challenge and produced an ‘Eco friendly’ design that was as sustainable as possible as well as reflecting the ethos of the school. The final design was a combination of students ideas and included a battery operated LED ‘flame’, blue and white ribbons and the house names of the two senior schools. In the event of the beacon being lost or damaged, a back-up was made as a precaution. The beacons were carefully transported to London along with a display of design work and are now residing at The Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London.

Photo: The Merchant Taylors’ Company

We are proud to announce that our CCF RAF Section has won the Royal Air Squadron Trophy (RAST) regional final for the second year running.

The section held off competition from 13 other schools and will now travel to RAF Halton in March 2023 to compete in the RAST national final, where the cadets will hope to better last year’s position of fourth. This year, our team excelled in almost all disciplines, including wins in the Command Task and Aircraft Recce, where Cpl Blagborough and Sgt Loftus achieved 100% scores. The section also came second in Drill and RAF Knowledge, third in First Aid and fifth in Shooting.

To add a final jewel to the crown, cadet Flight Sergeant Scott-McCormack was promoted to Cadet Warrant Officer, the pinnacle of her cadet career, by none other than Group Captain Roger Simon, Regional Commandant Wales and West Region.

Sqn Ldr Helen Dipple, OC of the RAF Section, said: “As their commanding officer, I am so proud of what the squadron has achieved. Behind this marvellous result is their tireless and commendable attitude to training. Although CCF is only once a week, the team have given freely of their time three times a week, including all day every Sunday, often perfecting their skills with good humour and a sense of pride in themselves, the RAF and ultimately their school CCF.

“The trophies and shields adorn the CCF office and we will soon need to have the shelf strengthened, particularly if the team win the RAST final in March.”

The section comprised CWO Scott-McCormack, Sgt McNeil, Sgt Loftus, Sgt Storch, Cpl Hutchinson, Cpl Pickard, Cpl Boaks, Cpl Zheng, Cpl Gamage, Cpl Blagborough, L/Cpl Holl, L/Cpl McCormick, L/Cpl Bate, L/Cpl Zhai, L/Cpl Pearson, L/Cpl Malins.