More than 150 students raised the roof last night at the Christmas Concert. This annual festive musical treat was watched by parents, carers and staff – who joined in with gusto at appropriate points! The concert featured performances from 15 different musical groups, ranging from choral to jazz and from classical to folk. The event was recreated for our local primary school pupils this afternoon. Thank you to all our performers for a wonderful evening.

Last week, our cross country runners took part in the Derbyshire Dales Cross Country Championships. We entered six races, winning four of them, and taking second place in the remaining two! Congratulations to the Year 7 girls, Year 8/9 girls, Year 10/11 girls and Year 10/11 boys for their first places. The top 12 runners from each race go on to represent the Derbyshire Dales in the county finals next month. Lady Manners School will be sending 25 runners to this event, and we wish them the very best of luck.

Late last month, three members of Lady Manners Equestrian Team headed to Epworth for the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) Grass Roots regional final. The Grass Roots programme is designed to give novice riders the opportunity to experience the excitement of competition. This is the first year that a Lady Manners School team has qualified for this final – and they took to the competition in their stride. Our team of three riders competed in the 50cm class with excellent results. The team took first place, supported by third and fourth individual places. Lily Colley is to be congratulated on winning a special prize for the 'rider with best style'. The team also competed in the 60cm class, achieving a very impressive second place. The riders worked very hard to get there and we are very proud of them all.

We've just heard that former student, Izzy Cottrell, has received a national award for coaching. Izzy, who left Lady Manners School Sixth Form last year, has won UK Coaching's 'Heather Crouch Young Coach of the Year' Award. Izzy played a huge part in sport and coaching teams and clubs during her time here at school. She has continued her involvement in sport whilst at university, where she is studying to become a PE Teacher. Further details of her award are available on at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/get-inspired/46372333. Many congratulations to Izzy – an inspirational former student!

The Christmas spirit was abundant on Saturday morning at our Christmas Fayre. The German themed event was largely run by our Year 7 students, under the watchful eye of Sixth Form assistants and their ingenuity and imagination was in evidence in the number of Christmas themed games to play. In addition our younger visitors took part in a variety of crafts and activities. The culmination of the morning was a very impressive raffle with a host of prizes including a six foot Christmas tree! We are very grateful to all those who kindly donated prizes to the raffle including Gulliver's Kingdom, Peak Feast, Tag Lane Dairy, Ginger Butchers, JW Nayler, Holdsworth Chocolates, Thornbridge Brewery, The George Hotel (Youlgrave), Youlgrave Shop, Bakewell Cheese Factory, Mad 4 Ink, Byways Café, John Hattersley Wines, Chocolates of the Peak, Bakewell Swimming Pool, The Fringe, The Wee Dram, Maria Slack, Adrian Frost and a number of our staff, students and their families. The event was made more festive by the addition of Christmas music, performed by our excellent Senior Windband and A Capella group. The whole event was presided over by Santa himself.