Sienna Robinson, Year 11 student and dedicated swimmer, certainly hasn't been idle since completing her GCSE assessments. During the half term holiday, Sienna joined elite swimmers from all over the UK in Glasgow for the British Swimming Glasgow Meet 2021. This event provided the biggest opportunity for British junior swimmers to compete at national level since the first UK lockdown. Sienna embraced the opportunity, having worked very hard to achieve peak fitness in the two months since lockdown restrictions have allowed swimmers back in the pool. Sienna competed in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events, taking first place in both events by a decisive margin. As a result, Sienna has been chosen as one of 24 members of the British Junior Swimming Team for the 2021 European Junior Championships, to be held in Rome in July. We have been watching Sienna's progress with interest and pride, and understand that we might literally be able to do this in July as the European Championships are to be televised. Rest assured that we will all be cheering you on, Sienna!

Last week, Year 10 students visited Parliament – virtually - during an extended form time. The live online session enabled education officers at UK Parliament to explain how Parliament works and how young people can participate in democracy. All Year 10 students took part in the online session and, for Year 10 Citizenship students, it provided helpful input to this term's topic about Parliament. This will include an exploration of participation and how they can influence what happens in Parliament in their active citizenship work.

Six Lady Manners School students took part in the County Athletics Championships last weekend. After a long absence from competitive athletics, the students relished to opportunity to compete once again. Well done to all who took part. Particular congratulations go to Freya in Year 10, who took second place in shot and to Caitlin in Year 9, who is now the county 800m champion.

Lucy Williams, a Year 11 student, is a keen footballer. She is heavily involved with Chesterfield Football Club. Last year, we reported how she had taken part in a club lockdown initiative to combat loneliness, which paired younger and older players together as pen pals. We are delighted to report that Lucy, who was playing for Chesterfield's Under 16 Women's Team, has been selected to play for the Adult Development Squad. This promotion is due to Lucy's hard work and dedication to the sport she loves. Very well done, Lucy! Congratulations on your well-deserved success.

There have been many examples of students fundraising for charitable causes and we applaud them all for their community spirit. This time, however, it is one of our members of staff that has decided to make the effort to support a cause that is close to his heart. Mr Rice, a teacher of Religious Studies, has watched recent scenes in India unfold with an initial sense of helplessness. With a strong feeling that 'no one is safe until everyone is safe', Mr Rice has been spurred into action and has set out to raise £5,000 for the UNICEF Vaccinaid programme. Vaccinaid aims to deliver 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines, 5.5 million treatments and 5.6 million test kits to people all over the world. Every donation made to Mr Rice gives the opportunity to suggest a challenge for him to consider undertaking. This is, of course, as well as the knowledge that you are helping to protect those who are unable to do so themselves. Further details of Mr Rice's fundraising are available at www.vaccinaid.org/i-would-do-anything-for-love-perhaps. We wish him the best of luck in his fundraising for this excellent cause.

Today, it was the turn of our Year 13 students to let down their hair and enjoy some well-earned fun at Alton Towers. A Level and vocational assessments have been completed and the landmark final assembly took place earlier this week. Congratulations to Year 13 on their resilience and hard work through the difficult circumstances during their time in Sixth Form. We are proud of them all, and thank them for everything they have done for the school during their time with us. They all have an exciting future ahead of them and we wish them the best of luck as they follow their chosen paths.