This week we have celebrated a great deal of individual success and look forward to (hopefully) a combined success in the House Music competition next week.

Mrs Gordon challenged her tutor group to 'Cook something for someone' last week and Year 7 absolutely rose to the occasion. They cooked up storm at home and they all commented on the value of the challenge and some even said they would continue to 'chip' in with the meals in future.  See the photos here:

Patrick H won the Newcastle Rugby's Rising Star Award at City Hall in Newcastle last night and was presented with his gong by North East sporting icon, Jonathan Edwards. As you will see from the images, he looked very smart in his dinner jacket and bow tie. This accolade comes as a welcome boost as he continues his recovery from injury.

Harry and Cuthbert W continued their judo journey as they competed at another international competition this week. I found some time to talk to the boys who gave me a brief overview of how they performed. With most sports, being selected to represent your country is one of the highest honours and athlete can be given. Selectors strive for medals; athletes simply want the jersey; not Harry and Cuthbert. They are both fierce competitors (I suppose that's the nature of their chose sport) and their commitment to team England is unquestionable, but they said that they both haven't rested on simply being selected, they want to do as well as they can. Cuthbert told me that he went to the final 16 stage and came up against the eventual finalist and the note of determination in his voice to improve was laudable.

House singing has returned and Monday marks the big day. There are various bits of information to note and no doubt timings for rehearsals will be tight, but the one part of the competition that has struck me this week is how together the boys are. Granted, it's a competition that tests an ability that most of the boys aren't well versed in, but there have been some significant improvements in the sound quality this week. Mr Bowler hosted the House in the music studio on Tuesday and offered some useful insights into how they sounded as a group (as much as he was allowed to anyway), and I am not musically gifted by any means, but they sound and spirit is getting there.

Have a great weekend.